


Mass Effect II.9: The Arrival

by kroganwarrior22



Series: Mass Effect: Jack Shepard [3]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama & Romance, F/M, Humor, Interspecies Romance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2020-02-28 18:06:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 86,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18761629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kroganwarrior22/pseuds/kroganwarrior22
Summary: Jack Shepard must deal with the threat of his family crumbling as an ancient evil draws ever closer. Rated explicit for violence, language. No lewds this time, everything belongs to EA & BioWare.





	1. Prologue: Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to part 2.9 of my 7 part Mass Effect AU series.(I know I know, going full kingdom hearts with the numbering convention but this is necessary) If your new, Hi, and thank you for the click! However, I'm going to ask you to go back and read Mass Effect II: Lazarus Rising, at the very least, first as this is a companion piece meant to fill the gap between LR and ME3. It'll have fewer chapters (no promises on word count) and if your familiar with ME2 you know what we're covering here. Here's to the next step in Jack, Kal's, Garrus', Tali's, and Saren's story! I hope you enjoy the ride..

The vid screen was repeating the same image over and over again. A long, wide, bright beam of white light shooting across the heavens from the mysterious Omega-4 Mass Relay down the length of the entire Milky Way galaxy to a Relay in the Viper Nebula. News anchors and military analysts from almost every species had the same idea, Aria T'Loak had sent a signal to the Batarian Hegemony to do...something. The popular consensus was that Aria had been trying to signal her Batarian allies to get into the fight against the Human Systems Alliance. After all, Admiral Hackett and the rest of the fifth fleet were getting closer and closer to Omega by the day. Others argued that was too obvious since literally trillions of beings had seen the light trailing against the night sky while jumping between Mass Relays. These people purposed the light must've been a natural phenomenon since, as they pointed out, the light just kept going into dark space. Jack Shepard had known better.

He had been on an ancient space station belonging to the reclusive, insect like, race known as the Collectors. On behalf of the oldest VI's he had ever seen, the Reapers, they were maintaining the station just in the slightest chance that their cycle had been broken. Jack had the burden of knowing that every fifty thousand years, the Reapers would exterminate all advanced life in the galaxy only to retreat into dark space and wait for the next cycle to begin again. He had disrupted this cycle two years ago by destroying the Reaper scout ship he knew as Sovereign in the battle for the Citadel. Unfortunately, the Collectors along with the Human terrorist group known as Cerberus restarted that cycle by activating the satellite beyond the Omega-4 Relay. No one on that vid screen would know that truth, or the deeper complexity there in, because he was considered a terrorist himself.

In his desperation to stop the Reapers from returning, Jack had turned to Cerberus for help. It wasn't like he hadn't tried reaching out to other people. Throughout his first and second battle with the Reapers, he had reached out to the Systems Alliance, the Citadel Council, and much more recently a now technically former General in the Turian Hierarchy. Besides Adrien, whose help came too late to make a real difference, no one had listened to him. It was far more convenient to blow off his warnings as dark fairytales in exchange to focus on the political scandal of the day. Jack had no choice but to turn to Cerberus despite their troubled personal history for the greater good. Only now did he realize how wrong he really was to put any kind of faith in them when they were the ones to ultimately activate the satellite. He couldn't understand how a group who focused on the betterment of Humanity would purposely put all of them in jeopardy? Of course, they weren't alone in responsibility for the act.

With a heavy heart, Jack had to acknowledge the fact that the love of his life had a hand in the signal being released at all. Kal had the choice to save Zero, a sixteen year old girl he had come to see as a daughter, or stop the signal from being sent. He chose Zero in a split second decision potentially changing the fate of the galaxy forever. It was hard not to be angry, furious even, at Kal for throwing all of his work down the drain and maybe get them all killed but, he loved Kal for doing that instead of the 'right' thing. He would be no better than Cerberus if he was willing to throw away his own people for the greater good. Jack tried to get that across in his last conversation with The Illusive Man but, he wouldn't listen putting them on opposite ends of the upcoming war. The feeling that Kai Leng hadn't been a loose cannon in activating that signal just wouldn't leave him, it made too much sense.

Currently, Jack was sitting alone outside of the medbay in the Turian dreadnought to not wake up a sleeping Kal inside, when Tali came to sit next to him. "Hey.."

He turned his head to look at her, "Are you ok?"

She sniffled and waved a hand dismissing the question, "I will be. That last thing we fought in there burnt part of my suit but, I was able to get it stiched up. Lucky I already had an infection I guess... I came to check up on you. How are you doing Jack?"

Jack closed his eyes still remembering that thing they had fought in the last three minutes before they detonated the nuclear bomb in the satellite. It's dark green gray skin reminding him of sea weed you would see at the bottom of a not well kept aquarium. He thought the indoctrinated version of Saren had been near impossible to defeat but, whatever had come out of that Collector cryo pod had been so much worse. Whenever they tried to use the tactics that had worked against the Sovereign controlled Collectors, it just laughed and called them primitives. It's biotics had also been made of flames which surprised him because even at the height of his indoctrination, Saren's biotics could best be described as a black goo. It had taken Adrien Victus and a Kodiak shuttle to take it down long enough for them to run away. If that nuclear bomb hadn't of gone off moments later, Jack wouldn't have been positive that the thing was dead.

He was toying with the wedding band on his finger for something to do and gave her an emotionless half smile, "That changes by the hour if I'm honest. First, I was just scared when the Turian medic said Kal was lucky and one of the stab wounds almost hit a lung. Then, I flip flop between whether I'm angry with him or not for what he did. Then, I'm terrified that at any moment I'm going to be watching that tv and a wave of Sovereign's are going to come through that Relay to kill us all. And after all that, I remember Tarquin has control of the ship we're in and he's taking us to the first Alliance ship he can find to lock us all up."

Tali had a mixture of light coughing and laughing, "Keelah, you sound worse than me when I ramble.. Just...don't be too hard on him.. What's the saying about pieces of Earth and invisible houses...?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh as well, "You shouldn't throw stones at glass houses, basically means you shouldn't be a hypocrite. I know Tali."

She had just reminded him of another reason it was difficult to be mad at him despite the severity of the situation. At the height of the Skillyian Blitz, he had bargained with a Batarian to save Kal only to get his own mother killed. Sure, the entire galaxy versus a few hundred people wasn't as serious but, they had followed the same principle; love was more important than duty. Separating over the aftermath of that decision had been one of the worst mistakes either of them had ever made so, he wasn't going to do that again. He was going to have to have a talk with Zero so she didn't make the same mistake Kal made with him. Otherwise, he was afraid about what she'd do alone out in the galaxy since she was already self destructive. It wouldn't help that Cerberus and the Blue Suns mercenary band wanted her head.

She was about to say something else when Tarquin Victus entered the hallway, "Commander, do you have a minute to talk?"

Jack shrugged looking up and down the hallway, "Doesn't look like anyone wants my autograph Tarquin, what's up?"

The Turian sat down across from him with a heavy sigh, "I.. I wanted to apologize for the fact that I turned you into the Alliance before I understood you were telling the truth about the Reapers... It just seemed like a made up story to get yourself out of trouble for working with Cerberus."

Tali had a hopeful but obviously joking tone, "Not too late to change your mind. Just unlock an escape pod and we'll get out of your way."

He smirked giving her a chuckle before shaking his head, "If I hadn't of made the promise before we jumped through the Omega-4 I might've considered that offer. Problem is, no matter how angry we were when we made the promise, the ninth platoon honors their word. We wouldn't have helped you deploy that bomb if service and honor weren't in our creed."

Jack bowed his head politely to let him know it was ok, "And I appreciate what you did because you didn't have to. All I ask is that you do whatever you can to prepare for the Reaper invasion. Once I'm in jail the Alliance is going to silence me and we're screwed if no one else is going to be ready for what's coming."

Tarquin had a grave expression across his features, "You have my word Shepard, I'll go to the Primarch himself when the platoon gets back to Palaven."

As he stood up, Tali stopped him. "Hey, do you have any idea when our jailers are coming?"

It was Tarquin's turn to give a non committal roll of the shoulders, "Chief Williams and the SSV Everest were coming from the Citadel two days ago. I'd assume any hour now."

Going to prison was never going to be a nice experience no matter who sent you there but, some people would've been nicer than others. Ashley Williams had served with him on the original Normandy during the hunt for Saren but, the two of them frequently butted heads. Their main sticking point had been his compassion and trust towards the alien members of the crew while she had very little of those two things. Since his time with Cerberus the two played a cat and mouse game ultimately culminating in a firefight in Donovan Hock's vault. Seeing her again after he had been forced to kill some of the men under her command was going to be fun. They could argue about who started it but, that confrontation started the latest war between Aria and the Alliance. All the bloodshed was going to allow the Reapers to walk right in without resistance, they needed more time.

Tali stood up about to follow Tarquin, "I'm going to find Garrus and make sure he's ok too. Remember what I said Jack, don't be too hard on him, he just did what he thought was right."

Jack had a weak smile, "I won't, and say hi to Garrus for me." As she left he decided it was time to find Zero and make sure she didn't do something she would regret.

_o0o_

Adrien shook his head collecting personal items off of his old desk in front of the dreadnoughts CIC, "The answer is still no Saren."

Saren was growing irritated with his former commanders stubborn attitude on this issue. He had been on the Collector satellite for spirits sake, he should know the Reaper threat was real. Maybe he did believe they were real but didn't think that Saren and Legion could do anything about it. From Adrien's perspective his request had to be sending up a dozen red flags. Why would he want to release them into the Perseus Veil when the first time these two travelled there together they started all this? However, Saren knew convincing Adrien to let him go now was a lot easier than attempting to persuade Human Alliance officials to do it. As far as the general population of Humanity was concerned, Saren had been the boogyman behind all of their recent problems and Legion was a personification of evil to them.

Rael's voice came out of Legion's body and shared Saren's frustration, "Have you even been listening to what we've been saying? Do you not understand that the Reapers are coming right now?"

Adrien slammed his small box on the table, "Yes, I did! You both seem to be forgetting I'm the one that saved your asses from becoming galactic space dust. What I don't understand is why you can't present this to the Alliance officials coming to take you."

One of Legion's metal flaps twitched with Rael adding, "Really? You see no reason why anyone wouldn't listen to us right now?"

Saren jumped in knowing they didn't have the time to be subtle, "The last time anyone saw me I was trying to kill the Citadel Council. I attacked the heart of the galaxy with multiple copies of him." He said while pointing at Legion to make his point clear, "If you can't understand why the Alliance would want to ignore us, then you've lost your touch more than I realized."

Legion finished with, "Not to mention the AI construct of Creator Zorah housed inside this unit is illegal in Council Space. The two of us would be scrapped for sure."

Adrien waved a hand to get them to stop talking for a moment, "Alright, alright, I get it... Go over your plan, one more time."

Rael took a deep 'breath' as though he was explaining something to a child for the third time, "During the mission with Shepard, we had the opportunity to go inside Sovereign's shell as he called it and communicate with him. When Garrus noted that Sovereign repeated a part of the same speech as two years ago I got an idea. What if the Reapers weren't as advanced as we thought and instead, just simple VI's? Programmed to perform a specific function every fifty thousand years. If that is the case, I could potentially program them all to self destruct at the same time and they would be none the wiser if I use their specific programming language."

Adrien watched him carefully listening to every word, "Aren't they billions of years old? I don't think they would just have a copy of their language sitting around at a fueling station for you to find."

Legion pointed at Saren, as if he was accusing him of a crime, "This meatbag injected the Geth consensus with trillions of terabytes of Old One data to indoctrinate the Geth. If we are allowed to find one of the Geth processing centers beyond the Veil, we will safely be able to examine the code long enough to be able to copy it for our own purposes."

Adrien just started to laugh as if the Geth told him a joke, "And how exactly do you plan on finding one of those hubs? They're lost somewhere in the middle of the Veil, otherwise the Migrant Fleet would've destroyed them years ago."

Saren kept a vague tone with his hands behind his back, "That part isn't your problem though is it? All I'm asking for is you unlock one escape pod for us to get away.. Say we overwhelmed you and forced you to do it."

His answer might suggest that Saren had no plan to find the Geth hub but, the real reason he was being vague was because he knew Adrien wouldn't approve. While it was true that the Quarians had no idea where any of the hubs were, Saren betted that the Shadow Broker knew. The Shadow Broker was an illegal information trader that knew everything for the right price. If he told Adrien that part of the plan, the older Turian would assume Saren was going to use his services in an attempt to disappear forever. If the galaxy was in a better state, he might've considered it as a tempting retirement option. The SPECTRE in Saren told him that he had to keep fighting until the Reapers were defeated. It was the very least he could do since he started this mess by allowing himself to become indoctrinated in the first place.

Adrien glared at him with real venom in his eyes, "The last time you asked me to do something that sounded so simple, twenty people died and I had to say the woman I loved was insane from grief. What makes now any different?"

Saren knew he had to be talking about the massacre he brought about on Klendagon. Due to the murder of his brother and the fact Harper had almost started another Human war with the Hierarchy, Saren had put on fake Alliance armor on and framed Harper for the deaths of twenty people including his wife. Adrien had known about the attack and even dragged Hannah Shepard away from the clinic to avoid the attack thinking he was just going to kill Harper directly. In order to protect his own political career, Adrien contradicted Shepard's report on the matter, throwing her under the bus in the process. He had every reason to be angry with him but, Saren didn't feel sorry for him in this instance. All the choices Adrien made back then were his own, and they had bigger issues right now other than their past relationship.

Whether it was wise or not was debatable, Saren was going to hold his ground, "You expect me to feel sorry for you that you've made some mistakes in your life? I was nineteen Adrien, you should've seen right through me and know what I was going to do."

Adrien's voice became an angry thunderstorm, "You told me you were only going to avenge your brother. I believed you and you prayed upon my faith in you, to then do something horrible. There were children in that clinic Saren, do you know how many you killed because of your vendetta against Jack Harper?"

Two days ago, Saren would've let that point go, they may have been children but, they were all being raised to be racists by Harpers friends. However, Kai Leng had brought up Klendagon as a justification for turning on Shepard. He could only assume that Harper had brought Leng up to think Adrien had been behind the attack and not Saren. Hate was an effective tool if aimed properly and Harper made the calculation it was more useful pointing at the youngest N7 in a generation rather than a single Turian SPECTRE. The argument could be made that if he managed to kill Leng in that clinic, the Reapers wouldn't be on the march right now. Although, he could also make the argument that if he hadn't started on the path to Cerberus anyways.

He became defensive not wanting to face his own responsibility in the scandal, "No one was forcing you to make the report you made. I wasn't holding a gun to the back of your head while you wrote that Hannah had lost her mind. You did that because you believed what I did was right, necessary even for the protection of the Hierarchy."

Adrien's thin nostrils flared only for Legion to stand between them with Rael saying, "I am the difference Adrien. You might not know me but, I am based on a Quarian Admiral whose daughter is right outside this office in the ship somewhere. I promised her that one day I was going to build her a home on our homeworld and I intend on keeping that promise. I'm not doing this to get freedom for myself, I'm doing this for the galaxy, and I'm going to make sure Saren will do the same."

The Turian sighed staring at the Geth, "I can't help you directly, but the unlock code is 3620012. Use it on a pod and you'll probably have thirty seconds to launch before the bridge crew identifies the intrusion."

Saren said nothing assuming Legion was going to follow him to the escape pods. The conversation had certainly been bitter but, he had hoped it would be a wake up call for Adrien. He needed to realize that not all of his problems were Saren's making, no matter how convenient it was to say so. As he and Legion were rounding the corner, the dreadnought shook lightly, with the lights flickering for just a few seconds. His only assumption was that the Alliance had just docked with the ship and was coming to arrest them all. He hurried forward to the escape pod and started typing in the code, they needed to go now to insure they could make their way to the Shadow Broker. The sound of footsteps from the way they came made him raise his pistol prepared to fight if he had to.

Garrus froze and raised his hands in the air stunned from the movement, "Little twitchy right now huh? I'll go get the others, keep the pod open we might be coming back hot."

Legion shook his head with Rael saying, "Adrien informed us once we typed the code in we would have thirty seconds to leave. We cannot afford to get to the others."

Garrus motioned to the pod door, "Put something against the door to keep it open, I won't be long."

His thoughts were running through the possibilities of what to do right now. He could follow Garrus' advice but, that would most definitely lead to all of them getting arrested and sent to Earth. Saren could just let Garrus go to get them and then leave without him though that had other consequences. If any one of them unintentionally let slip the plan, the Alliance could jeopardize their mission. While Saren could try and convince Garrus not to tell anyone, he knew his brother wouldn't abandon the woman he was falling in love with. If Saren was going to make sure his mission wasn't going to leak, Garrus was going to have to come with him, whether he liked it or not.

Saren put his foot in the entry way to the door pretending to take his advice, "Yes, go I'll wait."

Garrus started to leave only for Saren to use biotics to hit him on the back of the head, "I'm sorry brother, your going to have to come with me alone."

After the pod launched into space directed towards Illium, Legion spoke up, "I was right you know."

Saren raised a browplate out of curiosity, "What are you talking about?"

Legion looked over to him with drooped metal flaps indicating he was sad, "My calculations were right, I read a seventy percent likelihood that you would betray the group for yourself once the chip was removed. I just didn't know I would be following you."

_o0o_

Jack finally went into the medbay having not found Zero anywhere else. He was surprised to see her sitting next to Kal's bed looking confused more than anything else. His assumption was that she was going to be angry with him for putting her above literally the entire galaxy. She had every right to be angry but, Jack realized no one other than them ever prioritized her. Zero genuinely didn't understand why Kal had chosen her over the safety of the galaxy. Her ankles were covered in a power armor that one of the Turian medics had given her so that she was able to walk. It was almost a miracle that she caught on to walk again so quickly, he wondered if she was ever going to be able to walk again on her own. 

She looked over to him with a conflicted face, "Why me..? I'm just a useless piece of shit. No past, no future, no family, I'm expendable. But, he saved me."

Jack sat down looking at a sleeping Kal before glancing back at her, "Well, I'd like to think you have a family now with the two of us, if you'd take the two of us anyways. And I promise you have a future as long as I'm still breathing, I'm not going to give up just because the Reapers are coming now."

Zero stared at him blinking slowly, "I don't really think we can be a family when we're all gonna end up in jail at any moment now."

As if on que, the ship shook and the lights flickered for a few seconds. The Everest must've docked and Ashley surely had to be rushing to find him with help from Tarquin. Jack could've potentially fought off Ashley and tried to escape but, it seemed pointless. The Alliance wasn't going to stop hunting him and without the unlimited resources provided by Cerberus, he wouldn't be able to realistically stop the Reapers while on the run. Plus, even if he somehow escaped with everyone the Normandy was in Cerberus custody. Jack would never have the advantage of sneaking around the galaxy undetected ever again, so what was the point in even trying to continue to hide from the Alliance? The best chance he had now was to try again and convince the Alliance one more time to the fact that the Reapers existed.

Kal sounded tired but, his eyes seemed to glow a little brighter seeing the two of them together, "Oh I don't know, we won't have much else to do in a jail cell. We can send each other notes or something to keep you company."

A Human voice he and Kal knew only too well spoke from the door to the medbay, "That's assuming you two aren't going to get the death penalty for everything you've done."

Jack looked backwards only to realize with shock that it was Jacob Taylor in an Alliance outfit was the one here to arrest them instead of Ashley. The last time the three of them had been together, Saren had hit him over the head in an early attempt to remove his control chip. As a result, Jacob seemingly had lost his memories up until Torfan during the Skillyian Blitz. Not only had Jack killed his own mother in the fight on Torfan, he had killed Jacob's father as well. That wasn't even counting the burn scars he had unintentionally given him due to the Batarians actions. It was ironic he was going to be the one to ultimately arrest them and take them home.


	2. Chapter 1: The Deal

Jack couldn't believe he was sitting in Kal's old room on the Everest. Had the Alliance really not made a brig in the ship after all this time? Maybe the new crew never had any infractions with the Alliance's code of conduct so they didn't need a brig. Or, whoever was the latest Admiral in charge knew his history with this room and thought it would make him vulnerable for a confession. He didn't actually mind, this room gave him fond memories like meeting Kal for the first time. The mood on the ship had been so serious after the first Batarian attack, Admiral Kahoku had promised the Migrant Fleet had sent one of their best explosive experts, and there Kal was singing and dancing to an old Human song with buds in his ears. His only wish was that Kal's helmet was more translucent at the time so he could've seen just how embarrassed Kal had to be when he was caught. This room was also where they had their first break up after Torfan so, admittedly this place brought him a mixed bag of emotions.

He could picture the argument now as if it was only yesterday. Kal had called him selfish and arrogant, demanding to know why he had chosen him over the Alliance. Jack tried to explain that he loved Kal but, the Quarian wouldn't hear any of it. His natural survivors guilt, as well as, Quarian upbringing which told them that the fleet always came first turned Kal against him. He wouldn't see the love of his life again until Balak, the Batarian terrorist leader of the Blitz, had taken over an asteroid Kal worked on and Jack came to save him. It had been a rocky restart to their relationship but, they both eventually admitted they couldn't just be friends culminating in Kal purposing during the fight on Virmire. Jack could've used the same arguments towards Kal, about how he was selfish for saving Zero and wasn't thinking about the big picture but, he wouldn't. After seeing her say she was a piece of shit with no family or future, Jack understood Kal's need to prove her wrong. Besides, at this rate he wasn't even sure he was going to be seeing Kal again.

Days had past with nothing but a tray of bland food sliding under the door for him to eat. Solitary confinement was considered cruel and unecessary in most circumstances but, like everything else he was the exception. Jack understood the Alliance's hesitation to put them all together, for almost the past year his team had been working in a high stress environment filled with surveillance. In their minds had to be the question, why risk the possibility of them coming up with a plan for escape? The loss of Kasumi stung a little harder knowing she probably could've gotten them out of here in her sleep. He would be forever grateful that she sacrificed herself to save Kal and Zero. Hopefully, she had family somewhere out there he would be able to thank and mourn her loss with.

The door opened out of nowhere and Ashley shoved Kal inside, "Happy now? Just stop your bitching, some of us like to sleep."

His eyebrow shot up at Kal once the door closed, "I may have bitched a little just to make sure you were ok. Since we're married I have a right to see you, even if I'm a prisoner too."

Jack smirked knowingly to tease him, "I don't think the Alliance acknowledges Quarian marriages do they? What did you do?"

Kal lifted a gloved hand to show the Turian wedding ring on his finger, "They didn't need to know we haven't had the Human ceremony yet. It's not like I could provide documentation from your old room."

He couldn't wait any longer and wrapped his arms around Kal in a tight embrace with a soft gentle kiss. When was the last time they had just been alone together like this? Even though it had most likely only been a few days, time seemed to fly by and merge together without a way to tell how long had actually past, Jack felt like it had been an eternity with everything that happened in that time. Jack was just happy to see the Alliance medics took decent care of him, using high grade medi gel pads on all of his wounds but, he still made sure he was gentle with his hug. Kai Leng had shown no mercy in cutting Kal to pieces and making sure he looked like a fool trying to fight it. If that thing hadn't emerged from the Collector's cryo pod, Jack would've done everything he could to help Kal, it was hard not to wonder if that would've made the difference. However, the past was in the past now, he had to move on.

Jack could sense Kal was about to go on a ramble, so he immediately interrupted him, "Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum ner cyar'ika." The Quarian phrase served as a purposal of marriage as well as a declaration of love in this life and the next, forever really.

Kal let out a shuddering breath, "I know I fucked up big Jack. Believe me, I know but, I just couldn't let her die like that. Not after I just saved her from being turned into mush."

His lips kissed the mouthpiece of the Quarian helmet again to silence him, "I get it Kal.. am I a little frustrated with you? With myself for not being able to help you and for ever trusting Cerberus to begin with? Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to stop loving you. Ok?"

Kal nodded weakly and pulled away from the hug, "Have you heard anything about the others? Where they're keeping them?"

Jack shook his head and pointed at the door, "You and Ash are the only people to open that door since I was brought in here. The doors are pretty sound proof too so I don't even know if someone's posted outside."

Kal's tone sounded playful, "Good to know no one on our Blitz team could hear us 'hanging out' in here at least. When Ashley was bringing me in here, I heard another guard complaining that the brat broke his jaw..."

Jack had to stop himself from laughing too hard, "If we ever get out of here we're going to have to teach her not to punch the person who controls how much food she gets everyday."

Kal shrugged sitting on the edge of his bed, "I don't know, I'm inclined to believe he deserved it for the kind of attitude he had. And we found her in a prison remember? She's probably more used to it then we are."

Jack pointed to the camera positioned in a corner of the room and silently put a finger to his lips. Even though the light on the camera usually implying it was recording was off, Jack had a hunch it was listening to every word they said. It wouldn't be beneath the Alliance to put them together in the hopes that they would say something that would get them into even more trouble. While he was sure it wouldn't surprise them Zero had been inside a jail cell before now with the amount of tattoos she had on her body, Jack knew it was a bad idea to say which jail. If she caused too much trouble, the Alliance might consider taking her back there. He was sure the Blue Suns and Warden Kuril would be all too happy to take her back and punish her for the damage she caused to Purgatory Station. Punishment for defying a mercenary band was usually lethal as Kal knew well from his time as Archangel. That didn't even take into account the possibility of Cerberus getting to her in the far less secure facility of the Blue Suns.

Kal took the hint trying to salvage what he had said, "You know what I meant, prisoner to her own mind after everything she's been through with Cerberus."

Jack thought it was best to change the subject away from that clumsy explanation, "Any idea how long we've been locked up so far? I've gone to sleep a few dozen times but without a clock or windows, I can't tell if it's just me being tired."

Kal looked around with his arms folded, "It's not just you, if I had to guess we've been in here at least three weeks, maybe more."

Jacob opened the door a second later with a handcuffed Tali in toe, "Admiral Mikhailovich wants to see all of you. Please follow me."

He knew that name but didn't know from where immediately. Having a Drell's memory would be handy in situations like this one. Wait... Drell, Jack remembered Feron telling him and Kal that Admiral Mikhailovich had taken over from his previous boss at the AIA shortly before the raid on Donovan Hock's home. From what Feron had said at the time, Mikhailovich was a lot stricter with his agents, even going so far as disconnecting from Feron for a time because he refused to arrest Jack and Kal on the spot. What was he doing wanting to question them personally? Surely he had other agents that could question them, not only did he have responsibilities as head of the AIA, he was also a Joint Chief of the Alliance Navy. Something big had to be happening if he was taking time out of his schedule to talk to them. Jack dared to hope that maybe, just maybe the Alliance saw the data he had gathered on the Reapers and at least were willing to discuss the possibility they were real.

Jack did as he was asked letting Jacob lead the three of them forward, "How are you holding up Taylor?" He asked cautiously knowing the answer would determine the state of his memory.

Jacob scoffed obviously not interested in small talk, "Oh, so now you care about my well being? You certainly didn't mind when Saren hit me over the head so hard I almost forgot who I was. Hell, you let him decide make a whole new team on that dreadnought so forgive me for thinking you weren't actually counting on him doing worse."

Kal sounded offended by the accusastion, "I seem to recall you personally volunteered to go with him, how is that us trying to set you up?"

Jack also felt the need to defend himself, "All I knew was that I needed Saren's help without the control chip if I was going to get away from Cerberus in one piece. I had no idea he was going to do that to you."

Jacob gave him a sarcastic laugh, "What did you think he was going to do to get his privacy Jack? Just tell me to look away and pretend not to hear the screams as he looked around in his own skull? Glad to see you haven't changed a day, always thinking about yourself and what you need instead of the galaxy at large."

Kal jumped in again irritated that Jacob was ignoring him, "Saren's a different person now that he isn't indoctrinated. He saved us more than once when he didn't have to. I'm sure you've seen him in a cell."

Jacob turned his head to look at the three of them skeptically, "You actually think we've had him here for more than three weeks with you and didn't put him to death yet? He ran with the help of Adrien Victus. We have no idea where he's going or what he's planning on doing, just that he has the Geth and his brother with him. Last time he and the Geth were together they started all this, whose to say they aren't going to do it again?"

Tali slowed down to a stop behind them, "Did you say Garrus was with him?"

Jacob stopped as well and turned around to look at her, "Yeah, video surveillance showed it was by force too. Hit him over the head and dragged him into the escape pod with him after a quick chat. Seems to be Saren's preferred conversation method. So tell me, how 'different' is Saren really without his control chip?"

Before Jack could answer, Tali hunched over visibly gagging, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Jack watched in horror as she indeed popped her helmet open a small amount so she could vomit all over the floor. Personally, Jack didn't understand how she could be that worried about Garrus even with the revelation. At the height of his indoctrination, the one thing that prevented Saren from killing them was the love he had for his brother. Jack was confident that under no circumstances would Saren harm Garrus just for the fun of it. The Turian made a run for it but, Jack was convinced there had to be more to it then he wanted freedom. Then he thought about what Jacob just said, the 'Geth' was with him. Rael and Legion had a plan to explore the Perseus Veil in the hopes of finding a Geth processing hub and getting code on the Reapers. A sense of relief washed over him that at least one person had their eye on the big picture.

Kal and Jack were on either side of her rubbing her shoulders gently, "Woah, have you seen a doctor?"

Tali shook her head breathing heavily for a few seconds, "No, they haven't really offered but, it's ok. Probably just side effects from the antibiotics dealing with my last infection. I'll be fine."

Kal stood up full of fury now, "You have a Quarian in your custody that you know recently had an infection and you don't offer her medical care?! What in the kriffing FUCK are you people good for?!!!"

Ashley's voice came from down the other end of the hall, "We don't really like to give the five star treatment to people who murder our own. If it was up to me you wouldn't have gotten anything either but, doc said we couldn't let your wounds fester. She just has a stomach ache, she can throw up here and there for all I care."

Kal was yelling now, "She could DIE if it's something serious you RACIST little BOSH'TET!"

Before Jack could get up, Kal had thrown a hard enough punch to leave a bruise near her eye. While he was right, it was concerning Tali was throwing up due to her weak immune system, punching Ashley hadn't been a smart move. He even agreed that she was a racist based on their experiences together on the original Normandy but, she had all the power right now. When she threw a punch back and it missed, Jack and Jacob sprung into action to separate the two of them. It was surprisingly difficult with the two of them trying to hit each other around Jack and Jacob. Kal's emotions were running high from everything that had been going on recently and obviously one of the Quarians had killed someone close to Ashley.

A deep commanding voice Jack recognized as Admiral David Anderson's came from the same place Ashley's had, "What the hell is going on here?"

Ashley and Jacob stiffened with a salute before Jacob explained, "Ms. Zorah became ill sir, Williams and Kal had a disagreement over her treatment." He licked his lips debating on saying more, "Which is to say sir, we've been denying her any kind of treatment."

His eyes flashed with anger staring at Ashley, "Is that true soldier...?"

She glared at Jacob before turning back to Anderson, "Yes sir, to put it frankly I don't think they deserve any after what they've done. Killing Vega, Chao, Coles, Hernandez, Colb-"

Anderson interrupted her with the wrath of God in his tone, "You don't need to lecture me about who died in your botched mission to the Hock estate Williams. Do you know what makes us different from the Terminus Systems....?"

She stood her ground despite the anger rolling off of him, "No sir!" It was an automatic response to a rhetorical question.

Anderson continued as though she hadn't said a word, "We are a nation of laws, meaning our suspects in our custody have rights-"

Ashley had the nerve to interrupt him back, "They aren't suspects sir, I saw them kill people with my ow-"

He held up a hand, "I'm sorry soldier, I wasn't aware you had become a judge, jury, and executioner. Innocent until proven guilty under the law, not your opinion Williams."

Tali spoke up softly, "It's just side effects from the antibiotics I've been taking. I'm sure I'll be alright in a few days."

David gave her a kind smile, "It's better to be safe than sorry, Taylor, escort Ms. Zorah here to the medbay and make sure she receives proper medical treatment. Williams, your going to wait in my office until we're done in the meeting. Shepard, Kal, follow me to the conference room."

Jack waited to smile until they were out of earshot from Ashley and whispered, "It's good to see you again sir."

Anderson's expression was much more serious as he started to open the door to the conference room, "Don't thank me yet Shepard. It's going to be a tough road ahead of you."

The door opened revealing a large conference room but, it was mostly empty. In a single chair sat another clean cut Alliance Admiral with blue eyes and a bald head who Jack could only assume was Mikhailovich. Not a button was out of place on his uniform even though he was only meeting prisoners, suggesting he played absolutely everything by the book. Behind him was a large vid screen displaying an image of an old woman sitting alone on Earth if the window of New York's signature skyline behind her wasn't a trick. Her thining blonde and red hair with sharp green eyes were clues that helped him recognize her as Natasha Doalia, President of the Systems Alliance. Jack didn't know much about her other than she was popular back home and let the Admirals of the Joint Chiefs act on almost all military matters independently. The fact that she was here spoke volumes as to how serious this meeting was. Could they finally be looking into the threat of the Reapers?

Mikhailovich shook his head, "Even when we have you in our custody you still find a way to be late to the meeting. What took you so long?"

Anderson decided to speak for the both of them, "Williams let her personal beliefs get the better of her."

The other Admiral rolled his eyes, "Again? I swear if she wasn't such a damn fine soldier, I would've discharged her myself."

Anderson took a seat across from him with a sympathetic groan, "When I tell you what she did this time you might actually consider it again."

Natasha cleared her throat to remind them she was there, "Gentleman, is there anything you want to discuss with me regarding Gunnery Chief Williams right now?"

Jack couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, "Gunnery Chief Williams? I'm sorry, I just was under the impression she had been promoted?"

Mikhailovich regarded him carefully, "It turns out when your rash actions bite you in the ass and start a war, you tend to get demoted in our ranks. And no madam, we can proceed whenever you wish."

Natasha put her fingers together and leaned forward staring directly at Jack, "Son, I'm going to be brief. We have enough evidence to send you to jail for life a dozen times over along with all of your companions. I'd rather not do that though, from what I understand your a good soldier despite some misteps. We're here to offer you a deal for freedom. If you cooperate, we're willing to put the charges against you in a shredder and move on."

Jack hesitated not wanting to agree to something unknown, "What exactly are you asking me to cooperate with? I won't be a propaganda tool in any political campaign for example."

She rolled her eyes as if the implication was ridiculous, "Please, your so toxic you would bring my polling numbers down. Admirals you may proceed."

Mikhailovich bowed his head in thanks before staring at them, "Where are Kolyat Krios and Saren Arterius?"

The question threw Jack for a loop from how out of place it seemed. Sure, they would obviously be interested in Saren because he was supposedly a terrorist but, Feron too? As far as he knew Feron was still technically working for the AIA exclusively. He had assumed that was why he left with Miranda in the middle of the battle. He didn't think under any circumstance that Feron would completely turn on the Alliance but, the Drell was a spy. Was it possible that he changed sides because of his love for Miranda? It was technically possible but, like Miranda, Feron was more focused on the job then his personal life. After all, Feron had basically ignored trying to start a relationship with his father again in order to focus on finding Cora and uncovering the purpose of the Andromeda Initiative. It didn't make sense.

Jack shrugged genuinely having no idea, "I couldn't even begin to speculate, if you haven't noticed I've been locked up for the past three weeks."

Natasha's eyes narrowed, glaring at him intently, "Sarcasm isn't going to help your case any boy. Just give us the facts and try again."

Kal tilted his head curiously, "Can someone remind me why we should suddenly be responsible for your spy? Our missions overlapped yes, but, Feron did his own thing on our ship."

Anderson tapped the table looking at Mikhailovich, "We haven't heard from him since you jumped through the Omega-4 Relay. With certain dramatic events we nee-"

Mikhailovich interrupted him sounding frustrated, "Admiral, we agreed you wouldn't mention anything about those events."

Natasha rubbed her forehead looking exhausted, "The cats out of the bag now boys... Go ahead and tell them Anderson, it can't possibly hurt."

David had a somber tone making sure they understood what they were dealing with, "Councilor Sparatus' double was murdered by a LOKI security mech inside the Alliance's embassy on the Citadel. A day later, the Turian embassy was bombed killing forty five high ranking Turian officials. The attackers left a message, 'We will have our revenge on all those that have slighted Humanity. Cerberus is no more but in the ashes, Lazarus will rise.'"

Mikhailovich continued for him with a stern voice, "However, a day after that Cerberus social media accounts put out this statement, 'While Cerberus always has and always will advocate for the advancement of Humanity, we do not sanction the recent terrorist atrocities committed by a rogue element in our organization. We will take every action necessary to eliminate those who dilute our work. #CerberusLives.' Can you see our confusion Shepard? Kolyat was our only eyes behind the scenes and we need to know what's going on here."

Jack was trying to work that out himself, when Kal surprised him, "Do we have your word that all the charges drop on all of us?"

Natasha pinched her eyebrows together frustrated by the question, "That's what I said son but, if I find out you've been holding out on us, I'm going to have to rethink that."

Jack was giving Kal a puzzled look but, he continued, "We don't know where he is and that's the truth but, we do know someone that will. Liara T'Soni."


	3. Chapter 2: Duel of the Doctors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there! I really didn't try to get this day to match a chapter but it just seemed to click. ;)

Tali sat in the medbay anxious, nauseous, and scared sitting around for the doctor she was waiting to see to arrive. The first two sensations were connected because she wasn't stupid. Despite saying over and over again that antibiotics were responsible for her upset stomach, she could do math just fine. It had been close to four weeks since she had unprotected sex with Garrus, a fellow dextro who had released inside of her. If she wasn't pregnant now she probably never would be able to have a baby period. While it certainly hadn't been planned whatsoever, Tali wasn't necessarily upset with the possibility of becoming a parent. The real reason she was so scared was the timing of such a baby. Quarians had accelerated pregnancies when compared to Humans so, in just six short months she was going to have a baby. Even if she got the best lawyer in the galaxy, there was no way her court case would be resolved in that time. Would the Alliance even be willing to accommodate the equipment required for her to have a baby? What would happen to the child if she delivered them in prison?

Jacob was drumming his fingers on his opposite elbow impatiently, "Do you need anything?"

She could hear each individual tap on the elbow, just one more thing to get her sick to her stomach, "Unless you have a dextro chocolate bar, no."

He raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing smirk, "Only someone expecting would want chocolate right after turning their stomach inside out. Let me guess, Garrus is the father?"

Tali had a curious tone, "Why was he your first choice?"

Jacob chuckled clearly amused she would ask, "It doesn't take a Quarian engineer to realize you only vomited after I mentioned him. Plus, I was on the original Normandy, you may have had the hots for Kaidan but you and Garrus seemed to constantly be flirting without even knowing it."

Tali glared at him feeling irritated now, "If you know us so well, how do you think he'll react when I get to tell him?"

Jacob let out a huff of a laugh, "That's assuming Saren doesn't kill him first in whatever plan he kidnapped him for. Probably sheer and utter panic, until he sees the baby. Then you'll both get all mushy. Your gonna be good parents I think."

Tali had some serious doubts, "What makes you say that?"

Jacob gave her a teasing half smile, "Because your terrified right now, I'd be worried you were too egotistical to have a kid if you thought you had everything down already."

A few minutes went by in silence and even Tali was getting annoyed with the wait time only to hear Mordin's voice but, he wasn't alone. "Used cryo gel from omni tool to freeze lock and then open it. Irrelevant. Regardless, patient asked for care. As your patient, your responsibility to deliver treatment."

Chloe Michel's voice coming in her helmet's audio made her head spin, "Irrelevant to ask how two prizoners got out of their cell to come talk to me? Ok then...I'm still not going to do it." She looked over at her, "Oh, hello Tali just one more minute and I'll take a look at you."

Tali had been planning on saying ok but instead she had to vomit again in the trash can. Out of all the doctors the Alliance surely had on staff, she was assigned to her, Garrus' ex-girlfriend. From what Garrus had told her, the breakup hadn't been nasty and was her decision but it was still awkward to think about. If Tali was going to tell the truth, both women were going to have to come to terms with the fact that they slept with the same man. Maybe she could just say she slept with another Turian but, knowing Mordin, he would drop the news at the least comfortable moment. Did Chloe still love him? Would she feel like Tali had stolen her man? Was she going to refuse to treat her because of Garrus? Those questions were running through her brain like a cargo tram hence why she threw up.

She sat back up only to nod, "Hello again, long time no see Chloe."

Chloe was clearly surprised by the action before grabbing a pair of gloves, "Mein Gott Tali, let me have a look at you." She glared at Mordin while approaching Tali's bed, "As you can see Doctor, I have a patient that requires my immediate attention."

Mordin huffed crossing his arms over his chest, "Tali is in no medical emergency. Just provide prenatal vitamins and send her on her way."

Chloe glared back at him, "You jump to the pozzibility she is pregnant based on the fact she threw up? As a fellow doctor I am azhamed you would jump to a conclusion like that zo quickly."

Mordin was getting even more irritated clearing his throat, "No assumption made. Knows medical history of patient. Has had sex with Turian recently. No judgement by the way, stressful situations like suicide mission require hormonal release. Ask patient, you'll see."

Chloe eyed her helmet more annoyed with Mordin than anything else, "Do you think you could be pregnant?"

Tali gave a nervous tilt of her head, "It's certainly a possibility. The timings about right and I have cravings for sweets. Not the most scientific of reasons I know but, here we are."

Mordin had a smug smirk on his face, "Won't say I told you so but, I told you so. Better to give her prenatals and send her back to her cell. Check every month to see if cooking in oven well. Problem solved. Now can worry about your new patient."

Chloe ignored him and patted her arm gently, "Your going to be just fine Tali, I'm going to run a few testz to be sure. If you are pregnant, we'll get the medicine you need. Then we're going to have to order a bubble as well as a few sizes of Quarian baby suits.. formula, toys...."

Mordin tapped his chin as if trying to come up with a hypothesis, "Wondering why you think work is flawed. Has several publications to my name such as, Dispersal Vectors in Compromised Ecosystems. And Cross-Species Contamination: A Xeno-Plagues Potential. Knows genetics quite well."

Chloe was busying herself getting a blood sampling kit, "Yes and you've alzo appeared on such scientific community touch stones as 'Science Fun Today!' A show for eleven year olds with inaccurate medical facts..."

Mordin raised his voice actually sounding angry, "Not inaccurate! Merely simplified for youthful understanding. Sock puppets excellent illustration tool to keep children engaged. Important to inspire next generation of scientists out there. Shouldn't have to defend myself to you. If you've payed attention to my work you will have seen 'Science Round-Table: Rights of the Patient.' All about what title suggests rights of patient."

Chloe carefully hooked a needle in one of her suit ports to draw some blood, "As doctors one of the very first oathz we take is to do no harm. Potentially turning your friends lungs into liquid goop or, zending them into cardiac arrest if it works is harm."

Tali was definitely confused about what the two doctors were arguing over. She didn't think any treatment for a pregnancy had the possibility of melting her lungs. Plus, Chloe seemed to be tending to her just fine so, what was Mordin so worried about? After replaying the conversation over again in her head, Tali realized they couldn't be talking about her and her fears turned to mild curiosity. It was certainly interesting to watch the two of them argue since Tali had expected Mordin to be a well respected figure within the medical and scientific communities. However, once you take his work on the Genophage out of his portfolio, since it had to be classified STG business, what were you left with? A Salarian Doctor who retired on Omega that thought he was more important than he was. She may have jumped in to tell Chloe that Mordin knew what he was talking about but, Tali was enjoying the conversation being focused on something else rather than her future baby.

Jacob looked between the two of them annoyed, "Anybody wanna fill us in as to why you two are arguing about something other than Tali right now?"

Chloe had a dismissive tone as she placed a drop of Tali's red glowing blood on a piece of paper, "It's nothing, the doctor, and may I remind him, prizoner here waz just going back to hiz cell before one of us calls security." A smile crossed her face as she looked to Tali, "You are pregnant by the way, congratulations!"

Even though she had already suspected that news, a flood of mixed emotions washed over Tali. On the one hand, she was going to be a mother, something she wanted since she was a little girl. On the other, that dream was before she was going to jail for murder of several Alliance officials. With Garrus' disappearance and her only other friends also going to jail, where was the baby going to go? She couldn't send them back to the fleet because of her exile, the baby would be treated like trash. Ever since she had seen the orphanage on Noveria, she was nervous other ones could be the exact same way. At the same time she knew that even if the Alliance allowed her to keep the baby in jail with her, that life would be no better than an orphanage. To make matters worse, those considerations didn't even begin to take into account the fact that the Reapers were coming any moment now.

The cheer in her voice couldn't be contained however in that moment, "Your serious?!"

Before she could answer, a Drell's voice from the doorway made her jolt, "The violet aqua hues of the night sky on Illium bounce off of Irikah's face like fire meeting water. The wind gently kisses our faces but, Irikah is shivering so I shut the window. 'Siha,' she says with a nervous tension of a bowstring, 'I'm pregnant.'" Thane snapped out of the memory appearing embarrassed he said it aloud, "Congratulations, and forgive me for the intrusion." He licked his lips before continuing, "Doctor, I was under the assumption I decided my care plan."

Chloe put her hands on her hips, "Well of course you do but-"

Thane stopped her before she could keep going, "Do you have children doctor?"

Chloe cheeks were flushed by the question, "No, a dextro ruined me liking sex with a fellow Human being. Why do you ask?"

Mordin looked between her and Tali, "May want to find new taste of men. Hear certain Krogan can be gentle. Real pallet clenser regardless."

Thane thankfully changed the subject jumping into another memory, "The console plays music. Old. Unfashionable. Kolyat jumps into the room. 'Hi, father!' He runs around in circles. I scoop him up. Toss him into the air. He shrieks, laughs. 'Spin me!'" His black eyes returned to the present after a few blinks, "My son did not come to this station with the rest of us, I think he is in danger. What kind of father would I be if I didn't try to help him. I can't do that with Kepral's running through my veins."

Chloe stroked the back of her neck, obviously conflicted. "You won't be able to do that if your dead in my medbay either. Do you really think a Salarian could've found the cure to your disease inside of a jail cell when thousands of Hanar with unlimited resources haven't been able to?"

Mordin still seemed irritated with her, "Hanar have vested interest in keeping cure to themselves. Not hard to find when you have nothing else to do in a jail cell."

Thane regarded him and then her, "If I don't try I'm going to die with the knowledge I could've done something to save my son." His eyes glazed over into a third memory, "The air is hot, charged with biotic energy. A Turian desperately tries to bring Nassana back to life. Kolyat's voice is on the verge of breaking, 'You weren't ever there when she was alive. Always away on business. Why should you be there when she died?'" He stared at Chloe, "I won't abandon him again."

_o0o_

Jack thought Kal's plan was crazy, maybe he just wanted to die now before the Reapers arrived. Not that he would really blame him if that was the real plan, it was awfully tempting to just want to avoid that can of worms all together. Since they were going to say see you later to Zero though, Kal must've really believed it was going to work. Due to the fact that Liara had helped him get Hannah's belongings from the destroyed Archangel base and helped them find Mandaria's sister, Kal believed she was working with the Shadow Broker. It wasn't that Jack thought he was wrong, quite the opposite in fact since The Illusive Man had made similar assumptions about Liara in one of their first conversations. Also, it would fit his own discussion with her when he asked if she could join his mission. Where he disagreed with Kal was the idea that the Shadow Broker would even consider helping them.

During the hunt for Saren, Jack had technically undermined the Broker's attempt to get Tali and the evidence she had linking Saren to the Geth. Sure, that was two years ago, however, that information could've swung the fate of the galaxy in any number of directions depending on who's hands it fell into. The Broker had to hold some sort of a grudge against them for cheating him out of who knows how many credits. What was going to stop him from shooting them on sight? Liara? He had a feeling she didn't exactly have the pull to stop the Broker. And what happened to them if the Broker had no idea where Feron was? Kal had made it seem like he was a hundred percent certain that the Broker would know. To be fair, Jack didn't have a better plan to get out of this mess so they could focus on the Reapers so why not follow Kal's lead?

Anderson went to unlock the door, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop Williams from coming with you. President Doalia thinks you need someone to watch you so you don't run off. Take as much time as you need with the girl."

Kal stopped him from opening the door immediately, "Look me in the eye and tell me the Alliance won't experiment on her at Grissom Academy. She'll be taken care of there."

David bowed his head staring at the helmet, "I know the director of the Academies biotic educations division quite well. She cares about all of her students well being first and foremost. We aren't Cerberus Kal."

Jack felt like he needed to add, "And if we do get out of this, we'll be able to take her out of there or at least be able to see her whenever we want?"

After Anderson acknowledged the request with a smile, Kal stepped through the door. He spoke in a whisper, "Hey, are you awake?"

Zero was sitting on the slab of concrete that was supposed to be a bed, "What's it look like asshole? With the Alliance jacket standing behind you I'm guessing this isn't a breakout."

Jack tilted his head back and forth to tease her while sitting at the opposite side of the bed, "Well, not immediately at least but, if everything goes well all of us are going to be free soon enough."

Zero eyed them skeptically, "I'm sensing a big but in an upcoming sentence..."

Kal made sure she was looking at him, "But..until we get back, your going to be staying at Grissom Academy. It's a school for biotic kids who nee-"

She interrupted him, "Who are troubled and need help to control their power? Why does that sound so familiar..? Oh I know, Noveria! You remember it well, the place that gave me all this shit!" Zero motioned to all the needle marks from Cora's experiments barely hidden by the tattoos.

Kal had a disappointed tone as he took her hand gently, "Do you honestly, truly, think I would put you through that hell again? I would rather kill myself. Don't you trust me?"

Zero stared at their hands together before glancing back up at him, "You did kind of fuck everyone for me...." She looked over at Anderson, "Alright gramps, when do we leave?"

Anderson scratched the side of his face, "You are a firecracker aren't you? Kahlee is going to kill me for this but, come on we better get going sooner rather than later." He watched Jack and said, "Good luck Shepard and work fast. We need to know what the hell is going with Cerberus and this Lazarus. Until we do, I can guarantee no one is going to listen to you about the Reapers."

Ashley was holding an ice pack emerging from an elevator, "Looks like Jacob and someone else wants to come along to this mission of yours. Let's go meet them in the medbay so we can get out of here today."

The trip down the elevator to the medbay was a silent one with an awkward tension between the three of them. Jack realized for the first time since Akuze so many years ago, he wasn't in command. Worse yet, Ashley was going to be in charge this time and he had a feeling she was going to enjoy ordering him around. He could maybe disagree with her but, she had some sway in the Alliance. If she said that he and Kal didn't adequately help her find Feron, their deal would go right out the window. Would Ashley really be that vindictive knowing it wasn't just him and Kal that were depending on this deal? His guess was the answer depended on who they had killed at the Hock estate. His mind went to the worst case scenario, one member of the team had been a lover. That would most certainly mean she was going to put them through hell.

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind when they entered the medbay satisfied Tali seemed better. While the suit admittedly shielded what she looked like, her body language was bouncy if not a little nervous. Jack blinked surprised to see Thane sitting on the bed next to her shirtless with Chloe Michel stabbing multiple syringes into his chest. He hadn't had time to really talk to her in their first encounter but, he remembered it because of how Conrad Verner had rammed his taxi into her old office thinking she was in danger. Hopefully, the damage hadn't been enough to put her out of business. While frustrated in the moment, she seemed to be happy working here.

Kal ignored the Drell eyeing Tali nervously, "What's the damage?"

She drummed her fingers on her knee with an almost teasing tone, "Well, in six months I'll be a lot better if not tied down to a little guy."

He didn't immediately understand why Kal seemed to lighten up wrapping his arms around her, "Keelah! That's amazing! Are you excited?!"

Tali laughed and patted his shoulder but saw Jack's confusion, "Quarian pregnancies only last six months... I'm going to be a mom."

Jack understood Kal's joy as well as his own and swung his arms around them both. Kal's father had wanted him to get together with Tali in order to test his genetic manipulation to see if it would continue in a child. When Kal revealed he was gay rather than be with her, she must've felt like she was denied a child. Not only was she going to have a child, the father was Garrus, a best friend to all three of them. The darkness of the Reapers, Cerberus and this new Lazarus organization, the prospect of Ashley jeopardizing their deal, all of it seemed to melt away in the hug. Right now he was just celebrating two of his best friends future.

Thane inhaled deeply and stretched his arms out, "Thank you doctor, I actually feel a little better already."

Mordin smirked confidently giving him a thumbs up, "Knew it would work. Happy to help, will have to publish when I return to Sur'Kesh. Can't wait to see look on Hanar's faces when I have cured Kepral's when they have not."

Chloe waved a hand to bring the temperature down, "Let'z not think this is over immediately. Just feeling a little better doesn't mean your deadly disease is suddenly cured."

Thane got to his feet as if he was in a hurry, "True, but it's enough for now. I'm ready to go whenever you are Commander."

He wasn't surprised that Mordin had attempted to make a cure for Kepral's. The Salarian couldn't just sit around for three weeks without doing something helpful. However, Thane had specifically rejected the idea of accepting a cure from Mordin saying he had committed too many crimes to deserve it. When Thane mentioned coming with him he understood, Feron was potentially in danger. Even though Thane had joined them on Illium, he hadn't really been able to protect his son as often as he must've wanted because of the Kepral's. This was going to be his second chance no matter whether the disease was cured permanently or just temporarily.

Jack let go of the hug knowing they needed to get moving, "Alright, we have to find Liara on Illium."


	4. Chapter 3: Demon of the Night Winds

Traveling to Illium was a lot different in a Kodiak shuttle rather than the Normandy. The first thing Jack noticed was the fact that he had no privacy to talk to Kal alone. Ashley, Jacob, or Thane at one point or another were in the main hold with them while the other two lingered around in the cockpit. Thane was quiet and respectful, sometimes Jack even forgot he was there. However, Ashley in particular made it a point to make as much noise as possible, and then some, seemingly just to remind them she was present. From knocking over the shuttles small supplies 'accidentally' while making coffee, to dramatically making sure all of her weapons had the max amount of ammo stored inside them. It was getting to the point that Jack was about to call her out on being childish but, Jacob would return just before he would say something.

Kal's eyes bounced from the armory locker before returning to Jacob, "So, didn't pack any weapons or armor for us huh?"

Ashley turned around in the entrance between the main hold and the cockpit to stare at him, "Since when do prisoners get weapons and armor Kal?"

Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I thought we were helping you now? Can't really help you on a planet like Illium without those."

She glared back down at him, "Your helping us find T'Soni, that's literally all your doing, you don't need ways to kill us in this scenario."

Kal stood up to face her, "Williams, if you have a problem with us, just say it now. Otherwise stop acting like your somehow better than the rest of us."

Jack stood up as well making sure this wasn't going to escalate into a brawl again, "I think what he meant to say was, we all want the same thing here Ashley. We all want to find Feron and figure out what's happening with Cerberus. It might be a good idea to not treat us like we're the enemy."

Ashley had a sarcastic retort, "Oh my apologies, sorry just a little hard to get my head around that idea since last time we saw each other, you started a war rather than surrender."

There was so much wrong with that statement Jack had no idea where to even begin to unpack it. She made it seem as though he had been the one to start the fighting inside the Hock estate. Sure, he may have been the one to fire at her specifically but, he had just been trying to protect Mandaria, Sidera, and Kasumi. Ashley had been the one to start the shooting on the building itself just to get him. How did she think Aria was going to respond when she specifically broke the Treaty of Torfan? Send her an apology card for supposedly harboring him? Furthermore, from the tone of her voice, Jack could be The Illusive Man himself. What was her problem with him? It surely couldn't be just what she was saying with the amount of venom dripping from each word.

The pilot was unintentionally going to cut the tension of their latest spat for the time being, "We'll be landing at the Nos Astra port any moment now ma'am."

Ashley appeared to snap back to being professional again, "Good, inform Admiral Mikhailovich we've made contact." To Jack she continued with, "We are just passing through a friendly port, you don't need weapons or armor. Are we clear?"

Jack bit his lower lip in frustration but, ultimately bowed his head to agree, "Crystal clear.. Chief..." It felt good after everything she just said to remind her of her apparent demotion.

She stayed quiet as the shuttle landed with a gentle thud at one of the many landing zones in Nos Astra. The five of them left the shuttle without incident and once again Jack was awe struck by the Illium skyline. Seeing the impossibly curved Asari buildings during the day had been one thing, seeing them in the pitch black darkness was even more impressive. The bright lights were glimmering so accutely from each of the window panes that Jack thought each building could be a sixteen carrot diamond. If they ever got to have peace time, this was where he would want to settle down with Kal and Zero. He could just imagine the artsy side of Kal's brain going in a million different directions at once trying to make art. Maybe it was just wishful thinking but, Zero would potentially respond better to an Asari biotics tutor rather than the ones at the Grissom Academy.

Despite it being so late Illium time, Liara was still in her office chatting with another Asari, "Oh, hello Jack, Kal.. I wondered when you all would be stopping by."

Jacob furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "You've been expecting us? Can you see the future?"

The other Asari seemed frustrated, her paleish blue and purple skin flushing with embarrassment, "It doesn't take a genius to know the great Commander Shepard would want to talk to Liara about the lights coming from the Omega-4 Relay. Still you could have knocked first."

Jack looked between the two of the Asari wondering if they were more than business partners when Ashley said, "We're in a bit of a hurry. Were we interrupting anything important?"

He was surprised when Liara seemed to brush the other Asari off dismissively, "Not at all, Morinth here is an informant of mine and just leaving for the evening."

Morinth frowned ever so softly for a moment, "I...I guess I was." After a truly awkward laugh she continued, "Call me tomorrow?"

Liara bowed her head looking at the datapad she had been given more than the other woman, "Of course, thank you for the data. Let's go see that Expel-10 concert next week, yeah?"

Morinth grinned excitedly starting to walk out with an exaggerated bounce to her firm hips, "As long as you don't get wrapped up in saving the galaxy again, sure. I'll buy the tickets tomorrow."

Jack was surprised to see Kal watch Morinth leave but, his voice was oddly dripping with concern when she left, "Do..do you know her well Liara?"

Liara gave him a small smile, "I wouldn't be a good information broker if I didn't, though she doesn't need to know that. So, what can I do for the Alliance and just Jack Shepard now I'm guessing."

Kal seemed to be strangely unsatisfied with her answer. His arms were folded and Jack could tell just by looking at him he was frowning under the helmet. He obviously knew Morinth as well and from that reaction clearly wasn't a fan of hers. Under normal non Kal circumstances, Jack would've assumed that the two of them shared Morinth as a romantic interest at one point or another. However, the entire reason Kal had been exiled was because he wouldn't sleep with women, he wasn't going to change for an Asari. How did he know her then? Omega was the only answer he could come up with, maybe Morinth was a former member of the Eclipse gang he fought as part of Archangel. It would explain his unease around her, then the question became, had she recognized him? He understood why he wouldn't want to get into the details with Ashley around, admitting he was a part of Archangel just added one more crime to the already long list.

Ashley was about to speak when Thane stepped forward, "We are looking for my son, Feron. He was lost during our mission beyond the-"

Jacob cut him off, "During a classified mission for a hostile power, we can't discuss it with you."

Liara gave Jack a sympathetic smile before glancing back to Thane, "Mr. Krios, it's a pleasure to meet you though, I wish it was under better circumstances. Luckily, Morinth just provided me with information from the Shadow Broker on the subject."

Thane tilted his head curiously, "Already looking into the matter? Were you and Kolyat close?"

Liara tilted her head back and forth trying to decide what the right answer was, "He was a... friend. It’s funny, he betrayed me more than once. He was always double-dealing for Cerberus, for the Alliance. Yet, afterward we would get to talking like old friends again. He taught me a lot of things about how to survive after Shepard was kidnapped." She had a knowing twinkle in her eye, "When he wasn't tripping all over Archangel to complete his mission that is. I’ll do whatever I have to do to get him back."

Ashley seemed frustrated and impatient, "You can catch up later, right now we're on a mission and speed is important. What does that data say?"

Liara stared at her amused, "You aren't going to stop a bombing in the next twenty minutes with this data, take a breath." Her eyes flicked down to the datapad, "It looks like a leaked transmission between Shadow Broker operatives and those from Lazarus."

Jacob stopped her with a hand, "Do you know anything about them? Anything at all?"

The Asari's face twisted to one of disappointment and annoyance, "Other than they were behind the LOKI mech assassination of Councilor Sparatus' bodyguard and the Turian embassy bombing, no. They seemed to break away from Cerberus proper shortly after Shepard's mission concluded. Back to the data, there are some hints as to a meeting location..... It’s about Feron! He’s still alive."

Before any of them had to ask, Liara turned the data pad around to show them what she was seeing. From what Jack could tell, they were looking at a video surveillance feed on a back alley of Omega. At one end of the alley was unmarked completely armored Humanoids that he had to assume were the Shadow Broker's men or women. On the other end were Phantom Knights that he could safely associate with Kai Leng and they were guarding Feron. The Drell was strapped down on a medical table with very pale green scales. Depending on when this footage was taken, it could already be too late for his former squadmate. Jack assumed he was injured and his captures weren't bothering to take care of his wounds, his cover must've been blown. At first, Jack wondered why Liara had the video on silent but, Jack could see their hands moving quickly, it was Quarian sign language.

Of course, Ashley hadn't caught the nuanced gestures, "All I see is a bunch of mercenaries staring at each other with Feron stuck in the middle. How do you know anything about their intentions?"

Kal responded for her even though he was distracted trying to read what they were saying, "They're speaking Kelr'Ya, Quarian sign language.." He stared at Liara when the video was over, "The girl will handle the transfer at a later time, you know the place...? What girl do you think they're talking about? Why not just trade Feron for credits right then and there if they're so eager to get rid of him?"

Jack felt like he needed to add, "And why is Feron strapped to the table like he's a dangerous chemical? He looks so sick there I don't think he'd be able to stand on his own, let alone run away."

Liara seemed openly troubled with the fact that she wasn't coming up with all the answers right now, "I... I don’t know. I need to sleep, to think. I’m going home."

Ashley stepped in front of the door, "Not so fast, finding Feron is a matter of galactic security. You can think with us right here, right now."

Liara in a far more polite tone then was necessary, pointed at the clock, "I realize you just arrived but, it's 3am Illium standard time. I won't be much good to you when I'm completely exhausted. I'll think things over when I wake up."

Jack was going to try and smooth things over, "Let me at least try to help. We'll come by your apartment tomorrow afternoon? Maybe bring you some lunch?"

Liara stood up and smiled, "Okay I would like that actually. I just sent my address to your omni tool's Hopefully I’ll have some answers by then. I'll let you see yourselves out." As she left she waved but gave a complex hand gesture with her other hand, it had to be a message to Kal.

Sure enough Kal grabbed his wrist to keep him in his seat while Ashley huffed, "Well, that wasn't fishy at all. I bet she's the girl discussed in the footage, we should search her office."

Kal stood up slowly keeping a casual tone, "Good idea, I'll start over here..." At the same time however, Kal's finger was resting on his mouthpiece to shut them up.

While Ashley and Jacob were clearly confused over what was going on, Jack could get the basics. Liara must've communicated to Kal that there was some sort of surveillance in this room and she didn't want whoever was listening to know their conversation was getting somewhere. Maybe Liara's relationship with the Shadow Broker wasn't as good as they had all originally believed? It was the only conclusion that made any sense to Jack since Liara certainly wouldn't let Cerberus have surveillance on her willingly. Even though he was able to piece together what was happening, Jack wished he had taken the time to learn the language. It would've certainly given him a leg up in comparison to the other Humans in the room.

The Quarian walked around her desk with his finger still touching his mouth while opening her middle drawer, "Oh, are these two Scorpion pistols? I think we need these." He tossed one to Jack over the table before marching towards the door, "Come on, we're going to need a hotel while we wait for Liara to get back up."

Ashley blocked him at the door, "Nuh uh, hand me the gun right now."

To Jack's horror Kal just dipped beneath her arm and left the office assuming they would follow. Was Kal actively trying to get into a fight with her? Because that was certainly what it looked like even with the fact that Jack knew Liara had just said something to him. She had the power to be a true pain in their ass to the point of attempting to take their deal off of the table for being uncooperative. Although it was a risk, Jack knew Kal wouldn't jeopardize their freedom on a whim, if not for them specifically, for Zero at least. Whatever was going on here was dangerous enough for Liara and Kal to think they all needed weapons on them tonight. Jack followed Kal's example hoping Williams would get the hint and do the same so they could talk more freely. Or, she could just pull a gun on them while still standing in the doorway.

Jack forced Kal to stop halfway down the hall and put his hands in the air, "Williams, why don't you come all the way out here with us so we can just talk about this."

She gritted her teeth with her finger gently resting on the trigger, "I know you two well enough to realize this is just a plot to escape from the Alliance. Give me the guns to prove me wrong."

Kal stood still in defiance, "I'm not going into a fight against an Ardat-Yakshi without a gun. So if you want to take it from me, your gonna have to shoot me."

Thane's eyes glaze over for a memory, "She dances like a leaf in the wind, twisting, twirling round and round. Each spin slower than the last to highlight her perfectly round hips. Her warm soft hand grabs my own and pushes them onto her bare breasts. 'Let go Thane.' She says as a desperate plea, her scent overwhelming my senses and resolve. I remember Irikah, why I am there, and pull the trigger." He awoke looking between them embarrassed realizing he told a memory to them again, "I am sorry, with age comes less power to control outbursts. I had an Ardat-Yakshi as a target once, it was...unpleasant."

For once Jack could agree with Ashley when she asked, "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Thane spoke for Kal in a professional tone, "Ardat-Yakshi, or, 'demon of the night winds' are usually young Asari suffering from a genetic disorder preventing safe melding practices during intercourse. Instead, Ardat-Yakshi's biotic aura ravage their partners' nervous systems, leaving victims as corpses. If Kal is correct about Morinth, we need to shoot on sight."

Ashley hesitated but ultimately kept the gun trained on Kal, "How do you know Morinth is one of them? I doubt even Jack would stoop so low as to work with one if they're that evil."

To their surprise it was Jacob that answered first, "We were both on Omega and Kal saved me from her.. They're telling the truth Ash..let em keep the guns."

At first, Jack just thought Jacob had been lying to defuse the situation, he had usually tried his best to keep the peace between him and Miranda when he first joined Cerberus. Furthermore, Jack couldn't see Kal saving Jacob from anything in the two years he was presumed dead since their encounter on Virmire hadn't exactly been friendly. Then he remembered Jacob did say Kal was ok the last time he saw him and he had never asked about it. The most likely scenario Jack could see was that the rescue had been unintentional and Archangel just took credit for it after the fact. He supposed it was also possible Kal knew how painful death by Ardat-Yakshi was and didn't even want Jacob to suffer that fate. Regardless, it would be an interesting conversation topic if they ever had the chance to talk privately again.

Kal turned away from her and started walking away from them, "We're wasting time just standing here talking. If you don't want your only lead on Feron to go cold, and dead, you'll follow me."

Ashley's hand was shaking and Jack thought for a few seconds she might actually do it, "...Damnit... Come on, let's go."

Jack let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and moved to walk next to Kal, "Anything besides serial killer women I should know about during your vigilante days?"

Kal gave him a serious expression and responded with, "Let's hope not. We don't need another complication to this mess."

Once they got to the taxi station ten minutes later, it seemed like everything was going against them. The cab didn't arrive for another ten minutes and would only fit three of them which of course caused yet another argument about who would stay behind. Kal wanted him, Jack, and Thane to go since the two of them were gay and Thane had experience killing Ardat-Yakshi. Even though it was a logical solution, Ashley refused since neither of the Alliance members would be with them in case they tried to escape. Jacob helped end the argument by saying he and Thane would wait for the next cab. If that wasn't enough of a delay, the cab was slowed down by a ship crash on the way to Liara's apartment. Jack guessed they wasted an hour if not more on arguing and trying to get there when Liara potentially needed help now. Hopefully she would be ok without them for a few more minutes.

Unfortunately, as her building came into view Jack was concerned that wasn't the case anymore. Flashing blue and red lights surrounded her apartment coming from at least five police vehicles. He was somewhat surprised Illium had police at all given the fact that they never responded during his attack on the Dantius Towers. Surely Nassana had more power when she was alive to call the police than Liara right now. What happened here that was so horrible that Illium's government felt the need to keep up appearances and pretend to have a response? He feared the worst case scenario and worried not only for Liara, but also what would happen to them if their lead to Feron disappeared. If Ashley had her way, the Alliance would throw them all away to some red sand prison camp for the rest of their lives.

When they landed on Liara's landing port on the side of the building, Jack's confidence in the Illium police force continued to plummet. The exterior of the building wasn't secured at all and they could just walk right in. What if they were the criminals returning to the scene? The three of them would seemingly get the drop on around six officers present scanning the large living room. Besides the several bullets puncturing her front window, everything appeared to be in tact. If Morinth killed her victims by sleeping with them, why were there gunshots in the window? Maybe Kal was wrong and Liara had more enemies besides Morinth coming after her. Thinking on it, Liara certainly hadn't seemed very concerned about Morinth even though she hinted to Kal that she knew exactly who the Ardat-Yakshi was.

One of the Illium officers was saying, "Seal off those trace samples and get them back to the lab. We got multiple shots fired.... Yeah, techs are going over the place now." She saw the three of them and tensed, "Central, we got an open carrier on this end. Switching to a coded frequency."

When he realized she wasn't going to say anything else, Jack asked, "What’s going on here?"

The Asari cop put her hands on her hips, "This area is sealed off. Please step back, sir."

Ashley had a sarcastic tone, "Yeah, you've done a really good job of keeping a crime scene secure."

Jack cut in before she could do more damage, "Sealed off? Why? What happened here?"

Another Asari spoke wearing red armor from head to toe contrasting with her pale blue skin, "Someone tried to kill your friend, Commander Shepard. Thank you, officer. Your people are dismissed."

The first Asari spun to face the second, "You can’t do that!"

The second shrugged returning to read a datapad, "It's already done Lieutenant. I suggest you take your men and leave before the code forces me to kill you."

Kal interrupted the first before she could speak, "She'll do it you know. Justicars are stubborn."

The Lieutenant shook her head, glancing down towards her feet, "He's right, we don't want to contaminate the crime scene in a shootout. Come on everyone, let's leave the Justicar to her business."

After the small police force left the Justicar, as Kal called her, gave the Quarian a sad smile, "Would you like to introduce us to each other or shall I?"

Kal cleared his throat shifting around uncomfortably, "Everyone, this is Samara, she's a Justicar. They’re a monastic order, they’ve given up their families and possessions to follow their code. Most of them are on some lifelong mission, but they’ll always stop to deal with any injustice they encounter. If you follow the laws, you’ve got nothing to fear, and a Justicar would die without hesitation to protect the innocent. However, their code orders them to stop lawbreakers. With lethal force, in most cases. And everyone skirts the law somehow on Illium. If someone tried to bribe her, she’d be obliged to gun them down as a matter of honor."

Samara added, looking pointedly at Kal "Or if someone made a deal with a Justicar and didn't follow through on their end."

Kal sighed to her, "I've had a lot going on the last few months. I haven't forgotten our deal, and can help now."

Samara returned to her datapad, "I hope she hasn't killed anyone, I wouldn't want to have to kill you."

Even though Jack didn't know the details of what was going on here, he understood a threat when he heard one. Justicars might have legendary combat skills if they were as aggressive against crime as Kal said but, Jack wasn't going to just step aside and let Samara kill him. Deal or not, this was a distraction they did not need right now with everything else going on. He had a sinking feeling though that Samara's presence here had to do with Morinth appearing to target Liara as her next victim. Why else would a famed paragon of justice be standing inside Liara's apartment? If she truly was working for the Shadow Broker these days, Jack highly doubted she was important enough in the organization to get Samara's attention.

Jack went in a round about way to see if there was someone above Samara he could talk to about this deal and it's consequences, "SPECTREs are authorized by the Council. Who do Justicars represent?"

There was a twinkle in her green eyes as she replied, "It’s closer to a religious group than your traditional legal branch. No law-abiding Asari would question a Justicar’s orders. In short, we answer to the code. Luckily, there is no body present so for now, my deal with your lover still stands." She waited a second before changing the subject, "I heard you weren’t reinstated into the SPECTREs. It's unfortunate you chose Cerberus as a temporary ally, you did good work going after Saren. So I assume you had business with your friend this evening, Commander?"

Ashley cleared her throat, "It's just Jack Shepard now ma'am. He was removed from our military ranks for his cooperation with Cerberus."

Jack didn't think the correction was necessary right now but, only smiled at Samara. "Liara was following a lead on the Shadow Broker and a friend of ours. Kal thinks the informant she had was an Ardat-Yakshi."

A flash of recognition flew across her face but she immediately supressed it, "The Shadow Broker and a Ardat-Yakshi? My, my, dangerous enemies to have."

Kal took a few steps forward, "It was her Samara, I don't know if she recognized me with the suit on but, I know it was her. Let us help you get her."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, "'With the suit on?' What were you doing naked with her?"

Jack had an amused expression on his face knowing it wasn't what Ashley had to be thinking. Kal made a frustrated huff, "I can wear Human clothes you know, good for undercover ops."

Samara eyed the three of them skeptically, "I'm going to need actual help, not what you called help last time."

Kal stood his ground, "I told you, it was complicated. I knew the guy she was targeting and got spooked. It's not going to happen again."

Samara stared at him intently, "I hope not, you know what I'll have to do if it does."

Jack grew a little annoyed by the vague back and forth, "What are the facts so far?"

Samara shifted her gaze towards him turning completely professional again, "According to the police report, about 25 minutes ago someone took a shot at T’Soni. Note the bullet holes. She stuck around for almost four minutes before leaving the building. Whatever she was doing, it had to be important."

Ashley tilted her head deep in thought, "If Liara and Morinth aren't here, where are they?"

Samara laughed amused by the question, "If I knew that, I wouldn’t be searching through her possessions. There’s no blood, no body, It looks like T’Soni got away. The sniper didn’t plan on her kinetic barrier. Clever girl. Paranoid, but clever. As for Morinth, I'm not sure she was ever here, she likes to hunt on her own turf."

Ashley took over the questioning, "Did the police find anything else when they arrived?"

Samara gestured around the room, "Just the mess and the bullet holes. I should've perhaps given them a reward for getting that much.."

Jack frowned trying to think, "Liara was expecting us. She would have left a message here, her office was bugged and probably wasn't safe."

Samara tilted her head in acknowledgement, "I’m not surprised, Illium is just Omega with expensive fashion choices. I haven’t found anything useful for tracking her down yet though."

Ashley asked what had to be the dumbest question so far, "Did you find anything on Liara’s terminal?"

Samara shook her head, "Nothing of much help. She wiped her drive clean in the time before she left."

Jack wished she had given them a clear trail, why all the secrecy? "Liara knew we were coming. She’d have made a backup of whatever she wanted to tell us in private."

Samara appeared to agree but seemed tense, "Makes sense for her personality, haven’t found it yet though. You knew T’Soni better than I do, where would she have hidden her backups?"

Jack gave her a genuine shrug, "I'm not quite sure yet, it's been two years since we've really talked about anything besides business. Let me take a look around."

Samara turned to her omni tool again, "Alright, I’m glad I got here before the honorable officers ruined something important. I’m going to review the security logs again to see if I can learn anything else."

He accepted her permission to look around but, honestly he didn't quite know where to start. Jack hadn't been lying when he said they hadn't had just a friendly conversation in a long time. Just the possibility she could've been interested in Morinth came out of left field to him. How was he supposed to know where Liara might've potentially put secret data for them to find? If she wasn't running from Morinth, why had she ran out of the office so fast? He started with the usual places like under the couch and inbetween seat cushions only to find absolutely nothing. Why was Liara trying to hide whatever she had to tell them so hard? Maybe they were overestimating what Liara would do under pressure. But, if that was the case, what was she doing here for four minutes while the place was getting shot at?

Ashley was looking at the row of pictures and other documents Liara had on her wall, "A doctorate from the University of Serrice, back on Thessia. She’s getting good use out of all that education."

Jack took it as a sarcastic remark since it was Ashley talking and to be fair, Liara was acting more like a spy now than an archaeologist. When he looked at the wall more closely, he saw a painting in remembrance to the original Normandy was crooked. That had to be the place where she would hide something, the picture meant the world to them and no one else. He pulled the picture off the wall and sure enough, a light thud on the floor followed suit. Looking down, Jack saw a circular data drive laying on the ground which had been empty a second ago. His only fear now was that this wasn't some personal vid she had just hidden for safekeeping only to view on special occasions.

He looked back to them after he picked the device up off of the floor, "Guys, I think I’ve got something here."

Kal took it from him carefully like it was a precious metal, "It's a backup disk.... It looks like she recorded a call."

Liara sounded like she was in a rush on the call, "What have you got for me, Sekat?"

Sekat had the nasal tone of a young Salarian, "It was tricky, but you paid for the best. I can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe even a system."

Liara was still vague even on the call, "How soon can you have it?"

Sekat was getting a little nervous as well, "Shouldn’t take long. Come to my office. Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon Trade Center. Gotta say though T’Soni, your making me a little antsy. How big is the trouble that could come out of this?"

Liara ended the call with a friendly but dismissive tone, "Relax, Sekat. I’ll see you in a few hours."

Jack did his best to sound confident on the data, "This must be important. She wouldn't have given this to us otherwise."

Samara nodded already heading towards the door, "I know where the Dracon Trade Center is. My car’s outside."

Ashley grabbed her assault rifle preparing herself, "Let’s go. I'll tell the others where we're headed so they can meet us."

Jack just hoped they weren't already too late, for all of their sakes.


	5. Chapter 4: In the Shadows

Miranda should be thinking she was lucky to be alive right now. It was lucky that a heavily injured Feron held Kai Leng off long enough for her to find an escape pod. She was luckier still that she managed to find this many Cerberus loyalists follow her instead of the perversion to their cause that was Lazarus. Never would it have occurred to her that fifty other beings agreed with her that Cerberus' job was to get Humanity an equal spot at the political table instead of flipping the entire table over. It's what The Illusive Man believed before his death, these fifty people were determined to honor his memory. Even with all that going in her favor, she felt the opposite of lucky right now. 

While it was true she had fifty people behind her right now, they were scientists, women, children, and boys who had never fired a gun before. If Leng ever actually found them, all of them would be dead without a second thought. The assassin and his 'advisor' Oleg were of the opinion that Miranda and her group were traitors to the real cause, Lazarus. She wasn't necessarily stunned Leng went this route, he was always a violent brute, she was a little put off that Petrovsky followed him. At least from his records with the AIA, Oleg was described as a man that was completely rational and furthermore compassionate towards non-Humans. How could a guy described that way suddenly decide that Leng's solution was the right one now? She had to remind herself that the information she was going off of was when he was pretending to be part of the Alliance, that file told her nothing about the true man she had never met.

Her other problem was her band of operatives had nowhere to go but stay here. All of the safehouses Miranda would normally take refuge inside were Lazarus controlled now. A single step inside any of them and about a dozen Phantom Knights would be kicking down the door with Leng most likely in toe. That was what brought them here as guests of the Shadow Broker. His lair was an old Prothean energy production ship currently flying around inside a gas giant collecting wind energy for fuel. It was dirty since none of the mysterious armored guards ever seemed to bother washing the floor or walls. Despite the fact she was technically safe here, Miranda purged the file on the Broker's location so that Leng couldn't track them, she didn't feel safe. One move deemed wrong or inappropriate by the Broker and the fifty of them would be trapped forever falling in the winds of the gas giant.

The Batarian whispered besides her, "Gods preserve me I've never doubted your judgement before Miranda but, I don't like all the ways this could go wrong."

Griff was an interesting Batarian to say the least. When his brothers, sisters, and even parents were charging onto Mindoir to kill or enslave as many Humans as possible, Griff buried his four blue eyed gaze in whatever book he could find. Miranda would catch him reading anything from Human classic fiction tales to gun manufacturing manuals. She had found him three years ago on the remains of the Torfan battlefield looking for his father. She had been tempted to just shoot the runt right then and there for all the destruction his people brought to Humanity but, he told her that was why he wanted to join Cerberus. What was a better way to atone for the sins of the father then doing the exact opposite of what he had done? With the times the way they were right now, the nineteen year old served as her second in command.

Miranda did her best to not show her own misgivings about the situation, "You worry too much, we're here as guests. And The Illusive Man was good friends with the Broker. He'll honor the agreement they made."

He gave her a skeptical expression, "Uh huh, as long as he gets something out of it. This isn't a charity drive Miranda, he's going to want something. Are we even sure he's going to be able to help us?"

Miranda wouldn't say how doubtful she was out loud, "Of course he will, the knowledge he has can get us lots of places. Maybe even get us in a place Leng is going at the right time to strike."

Griff still didn't seem convinced, "I'm all for knowledge Miranda but, in the end nothing beats firepower. It's the only way the galaxy functions unfortunately. And I'm not sure he'l-"

A Salarian guard interrupted him, "The Broker will see you both now. You should be honored by this rare personal audience."

Griff rolled his top two eyes, "Honored my ass. I'm sure he's about to ask us to strip and give him a show. At least, that's what I'd want if I was surrounded by Salarians all day only to see a group of Humans knocking on my door."

She was about to say something about having some manners was a good idea in a situation like this when the door opened revealing a throne room. No wonder The Illusive Man and the Broker got along well enough, they had a similar sense of scale in their control centers. Instead of a dying star in the Horsehead Nebula as a back drop however, the Broker had a wall of data streaming from the ceiling to the floor. Everything from a vid of the cowardly Councilor Udina eating breakfast on the Citadel to reports on Aria's fleet movements in her war against the Alliance. How could the Broker possibly keep track of all this information flying at him every minute of every day? She was starting to think the Broker had to be an AI or multiple individuals taking shifts to read data from their informants. However, when Miranda saw a massive shadow in the corner move, she realized how wrong she was. It was just one person but, they were a Yahg.

Yahg were twelve foot tall and several tons of muscle with eight glowing yellow eyes. Miranda didn't know much about the species other than the fact that they didn't sleep, something in their brain chemistry just didn't need sleep. She had to assume they also had incredible memories if the Broker could sit here and process the thousands of packets worth of information. The red skinned beast wearing old hull plating for armor turned away from his wall of data and lumbered towards them with purpose. If things got ugly, Miranda didn't even know if her bullets would get through his red hide even without the armor. She was good at talking her way out of things, she just had to play up to his obviously inflated ego and see what he wanted.

Griff filled the immediate silence, "So this is how Humans feel when they're looking at us huh?" His tone got a little louder than before as if to carry his voice up to the Yahg's floppy ears, "What set of eyes am I supposed to look at Mr...?"

The Yahg snorted ignoring him to look down at her, "Charming boy Ms. Lawson, almost has the same amount of grace as his father. Almost.... What can I do for you?"

Miranda glared at the Batarian to stay quiet only to take a knee, "Oh great Shadow Broker, we are here because we need your protection. Kai Leng has killed The Illusive Man, your former friend, and is usi-"

He stopped her mid sentence with a hand and a chilling voice, "Don't lie to me."

Miranda played dumb raising an eyebrow, "Sir? I don't know what you mean."

The Shadow Broker sighed and sat back down at his desk, "Glyph, pull up vid recording three hundred, full screen."

Her mouth felt dry as the image of The Illusive Man's office flashed on the screen. Miranda's first thought was how in the hell did the Broker have this kind of recording? Would The Illusive Man really give the Broker that kind of access or, did Cerberus have a spy in the ranks for him? It didn't matter now though as the vid of her, Feron, and Leng started to play. This was a problem because she had lied to the fifty people she had been protecting but, it was for their own good. They would have never of followed her if they knew the truth that she was the one to kill The Illusive Man. Leng surely would've killed them for being too soft for his twisted vision but, in the heat of the moment the group wouldn't have seen that. They wouldn't understand her reasoning and just would have killed her for being a traitor. At least the entire group wasn't watching right now, yet, she still had to worry about Griff's reaction.

When the bangs of gunshots rang out, Griff stared at her, "What the hell Miranda?"

The Shadow Broker smirked the best he could with a mouth that separated three ways, "Oh it gets more interesting. Glyph, keep playing until 22.4."

Miranda watched as she disappeared out of The Illusive Man's office and Cora appeared through the hologram projector, "No, let her go."

Leng turned to face her, "What?! She just killed father! We have to make her pay for that!"

Cora's expression was one of sadness and loss, "Oh Kai, I wish that were true... Father has been dead for two years now."

Miranda was just as confused as Feron while he groaned in pain, "That's... That's not possible."

She moved through Leng's body ignoring his own puzzled expression to kneel down in front of Feron, "And why is that? Just because you've talked to him in that time...?"

Feron shook his head, "No, because you've been afraid of him...and recently." He let himself slip into the memory, "I listen to the recording desperately looking for an answer. 'December 4th, 2184 and finally we can wake him up. After putting so much time on freezing his brain in cryo, the transplant, scanning for indoctrination, all of it! I can happily say I brought Saren Arterius back to life with all of his memories and minus the Reaper indoctrination. The tech I traded with the Collectors really made all the difference in the world. And to top it all off, all they wanted in exchange was for me to keep Shepard in his cryo pod. Hopefully, this will be a big enough present to dad, otherwise I'm screwed.'" The memory snapped away, "Why would you be screwed months ago.. if you killed him two years ago...?"

Cora gave him a wild smile, "Did you not think I could've made those recordings much later? Specifically for your benefit Feron?"

Leng spoke a single word as he turned around to face her, "Why?"

The look on her face was one of pain and exhaustion as she stood up to face him, "For you Kai.. Everything I've ever done I've done it for you. When you were captured on Luna I wanted to go after you, but father wouldn't have it. He believed Miranda that you got caught by your own mistakes and not her making a move for power. I tried to get evidence she was behind everything but, Golo failed me on Noveria thinking about his own skin... Then, she took Virmire away from me so I panicked. I went to see father to try and tell him he was wrong about her, that you deserved better. We fought, I killed him.. Like he always said, 'Who we keep closest to us can hurt us the worst.'"

She was disgusted by the loving nature of Cora and Leng's relationship but, she had to stay focused on the revelations the vid was giving her. It was like a splash of cold water and understanding hit Miranda in the face. Even though she was confused by how Cora managed to pull off a living, breathing version of The Illusive Man for two years, other things made sense. Originally she thought his distance after Virmire was because she had failed to keep the location of the Mu Relay and had left Feron behind on the Normandy to save Kal. It had been a fuck up she could freely own up to. What hadn't made sense at the time was his preference to Cora's mission on Omega compared to everything else, why he had kept Miranda out of the loop about Leng, and the fact he hadn't been paying attention to Oriana's safety. Cora had been running the entire show with Shepard, which just gave her more questions.

Leng was shaking now in anguish, "I...I just talked to him. I watched him die, and he's been ordering Shepard around for months. How is that possible?"

Feron spoke as though he had always known the answer, "Golo.."

Cora smiled down at him like he was a student who got the right answer for the first time, "Quarians are fascinating beings aren't they? They have the need to preserve the past even though it was their doom. Before the Morning War they would save copies of their ancestors knowledge onto artificial intelligence chips in order to receive their wisdom even after they had died." She stroked Feron's cheek with the hologram, "You never questioned why someone like me would have a Quarian as their second in command? According to you, I'm a racist."

Feron kept as much pressure on his wound as possible, "Why go through all the trouble? If you had all the power anyways?"

She was looking in his eyes now, "When I killed him, Miranda was more popular and had a stronger cell. Cerberus wouldn't have survived a civil war so, I made a copy of him. It wasn't perfect, wore the same suit, always stayed in this room, took a drink whenever he lied, worked against me occasionally but he was dad. Now, I have the video evidence of Miranda killing him." She stood back up to face Leng, "So you can take over all of the cells while I'm gone."

The Shadow Broker wiped the screen away, "Nothing else relevant occurs after this exchange." His eight eyes landed on Griff, "Do you understand now boy that knowledge is my domain? If I hadn't shown you the rest of that footage you probably would've killed Miranda here for being a traitor to your cause. Manipulating the narrative is power."

Griff folded his arms looking irritated, "How do we know your not manipulating us right now?"

A chuckle came from the Yahg accompanied by a shrug, "How indeed."

Miranda stood up and her reverance towards him had vanished, "What will it take for us to have permanent safe harbor in this facility?"

His yellow eyes looked at the ceiling for a moment seeming to pretend she wasn't even there, "An Ardat-Yakshi is delivering a poor indoctrinated soul here personally. I want you to study the process." 

Griff squaked at the mention of the Asari serial killer group, "Are you mentally deranged or something? Ardat-Yakshi are dangerous enough on their own. Putting another Saren in the mix is practically suicide."

The Shadow Broker continued to be disinterested in them, "No more dangerous to your health then telling all those Humans you think are friends who your real father is 'Griff.' How long would it take for them to turn on you knowing all the things your family has done?"

Miranda jumped in to defend him, "This is different, we had a science team looking into indoctrination only to be killed and transformed into monsters. It's not worth the risk to this ships safety."

Her last sentence finally got his attention, "Not worth it?! May I remind you Ms. Lawson that because of your last operations failings the Reapers are traveling through dark space here right now? You don't think it is worth it to understand how to remove the effects of indoctrination? Especially when trillions of lives could be at stake? How many credits would governments throw at my feet just to get a taste of the answer? I seem to recall you doing something similar for Saren."

Miranda sighed with frustration, "Cora was behind the work to get Saren bac-"

The Shadow Broker cut her off with cold anger, "So what your telling me is Lazarus is more useful than you? Because they have already put a bounty on your head. A large one."

Griff spoke for her, "No, we can do it. Better than she ever could."

Miranda felt like she had to ask, "Why are you asking us to do this? If all you really wanted was the credits you would just sell us for the bounty. Why are you really interested in indoctrination?"

The Shadow Broker blinked for a few seconds regarding her, "Guards, our guests need to be escorted back to their living space. I will inform you when the specimen arrives for you to conduct your research."

As they were dragged out of the room, Miranda was starting to agree with Griff that this had been a bad idea. Why was the Broker using them of all people for research on indoctrination? Just so they could be scapegoats? He already traded in billions of credits worth of information everyday. A few more billion couldn't possibly be the only reason he was looking into the Reapers methods. Whatever the reason really was, she needed an exit strategy for Cerberus. The fifty people she had gathered together here for a common purpose was Miranda's only responsibility right now.

She turned her head and whispered in Griff's ear, "I need you to trust me and do something for me...."

_o0o_

Saren paced around the interior of the Dracon Trade Center still not liking this. They had to get the location of the Geth Processing Hub and that meant working with the Shadow Broker but, he didn't have to enjoy it. At first the job seemed simple, just get a package from point A to point B, then he started getting details. Not only was the package an indoctrinated being similar to him, an Ardat-Yakshi was going to help them make the delivery. If it was just him on the mission, he would've tolerated the horrifying creature as a necessary evil but, Garrus was with him. Not only was he going to have to worry about the being that was indoctrinated but also, keeping Garrus away from the Asari's seductive nature. That was if she was ever actually going to show up, it had been twenty minutes since their scheduled meeting time.

Garrus was pacing around the mostly empty lobby since it was almost four in the morning, "What do we do if she just doesn't show up?"

Saren sighed looking out the window searching for any sign of an Asari, "She'll show up. If the Broker is offering her protection in exchange for doing this she'll show."

Garrus was clearly irritated from the twang in his subvocals, "I think we need to start considering our options if she doesn't show. It's been almost a half hour, people in the underworld don't just miss meetings like this."

Saren tried to have as much patience for his brother as possible, "We don't have another option Garrus. I'd suggest we just sit here and wait for her to arrive with the package."

Garrus approached him with a glare on his face, "Quit acting like this shit is normal Saren! Since when was it a good idea to deal with an Ardat-Yakshi and then give a weapon of mass destruction to the Shadow Broker?"

Saren gritted his teeth together for a moment, "What would you like me to do? Your friends made it absolutely necessary for us to find that Geth hub now! We cannot spend years looking in the dark!"

Garrus got in his face pointing a finger at him, "Don't you dare put this on Kal! He was just doing what he thought was right."

Saren pushed the finger out of his face from annoyance, "Yes, putting the entire fate of the galaxy in jeopardy for one person is a true act of virtue. What was I thinking, he deserves a metal. Wake up Garrus, everyone you've ever met including your girlfriend is at risk. Sacrifices have to be made if we are going to survive."

Garrus shot back with venom in his words, "Putting the entire galaxy on the line in exchange for making sure one person survived... Why does that sound so familiar...? Quit acting like your better than the rest of us and that your the only one that can see the big picture now. We can stop the Reapers without selling our souls to the Shadow Broker or anyone else."

The words hurt more than they should have, Garrus was obviously referring to the pact he made with Sovereign upon first meeting the intelligence. Saren had made the Reaper swear that Garrus and the other Turians would not be harmed if he helped bring them out of dark space. It was childish of him to think that Garrus would ever be grateful for the attempt he made to save his brothers life given all the destruction that happened afterwards but, he had hoped there would at least be some appreciation for the sentiment underneath. Right now, it just seemed like his brother viewed their relationship as a poison that had never done anything good for the galaxy. Deep down Saren knew that was just his mind talking but, it was hard not to internalize what he was saying.

Saren gave him a serious expression, "Yes, yes I did put aside the greater good to try and save you. But look where that put me, a terrorist responsible for the deaths of thousands. Isolated from the people I love most. The big picture is all that matters now, we have to make compromises for the good of the galaxy. I need you to understand that."

Legion's voice came from a shadowy corner and he was wearing a large black blanket as a robe trying to hide the fact he was a Geth, "Someone is coming to the door, we can continue this discussion later."

Saren followed the Geth's gaze expectantly, "Good, maybe we can actually get going now.."

When he looked out the window, his spirits sank seeing that instead of an Asari, a Human was walking inside to use the ATM near the door. This brought up a few problems that quite frankly, Saren didn't want to deal with. The first was obvious, what if Garrus was right and the Ardat-Yakshi was a no show? He had no doubt the Shadow Broker wouldn't be kind enough to come up with another way to make a trade. Their only alternative would be to go into the Veil on their own in the hopes they'd find a hub. If worst came to worst they could attempt to infiltrate Rannoch directly for the actual consensus. It would be suicide but, he still stood by the fact that no one individual life was too costly in exchange for the possibility to kill the Reapers. His more immediate problem was the Human, the mission would mean nothing if they were recognized and arrested.

The Human grumbled staring at the ATM, "Oh come on, just work! This is my entire paycheck."

Saren thought he was going to break into a panic when he saw Garrus walking towards the man, "Here, let me help you with that. Sometimes just a kick can make it work."

His fears only rose when the Human stared at him, "Oh my God, your Garrus Vakarian aren't you? You helped Commander Shepard save the Citadel two years ago! I'm Conrad Verner, a friend of his! Is it true you both killed a hundred Geth saving people? Does he ever talk about me?"

His browplate twitched when Garrus responded with, "Well, I wouldn't say just a hundred but yeah that's us. Conrad I need you to do me a favor, please go home as fast as you can and tell no one you saw us. It's extremely important for Shepard's latest mission that no one knows we were here."

Conrad nodded as though he was in on a secret, "I totally understand, saving the galaxy requires discretion, and that's my middle name. But uhh, would you mind taking a selfie with me? I swear I'll keep it to myself but, I wanna be able to show the grandkids something. Like hey, I got to meet Commander Shepard AND one of his best friends."

Garrus ignored his warning glance, "Why not, you just have to keep it to yourself for the next little while. Deal?"

Even though the Human nodded emphatically, Saren knew better that the photo would spread like wildfire. What was Garrus thinking with a stunt like that? They were fugitives on the run right now, not celebrities that could afford basking in the spotlight of popularity. If the Alliance or the Council caught wind of this, which they would the moment this hit the extranet, Illium would be shut down until they were found. While it was a big enough planet that he was confident in their ability to hide here forever, the galaxy didn't have time for them to do so. The Reapers could literally arrive any day now and they needed the coding language to stop them. There was no time left to rot in an Alliance jail cell to try and convince them of the threat. With that in mind, he pulled out his silenced pistol and shot Conrad three times in the spine.

Rael's and Garrus' reactions were the same as Conrad collapsed, "What the hell did you just do?!"

Saren had a defensive tone, "He was going to send that photo to all of his little friends and we were going to be screwed."

Garrus glared at him while desperately trying to do anything for the dying Human, "Legion, call 911! Your going to be ok sir... It's going to be ok... It's alright."

An Asari came in with a large cryo pod dragging behind her, "Sorry I'm late, someones trying to kill me."

The explosion somewhere in the building above them made Saren tense. This wasn't going to be an easy get away.


	6. Chapter 5: The Dracon Trade Center

His mind raced with at least a million questions but, Jack didn't feel comfortable asking any of them in front of Ashley. How had Kal and Samara meet? Why did Kal make a deal with the Justicar even if he seemingly knew the consequences of breaking a deal with her? Yes, an Ardat-Yakshi was extremely dangerous but the threat felt like small potatoes compared to what Archangel had been striving towards. Then again, he didn't really know what Kal and Garrus' day to day life was like on Omega because he had never asked. It wasn't out of lack of curiosity, no, Jack just wanted to respect that it was something the two of them needed to process on their own. Now that Kal's past as a member of Archangel was effecting the mission though, maybe it was time for him to reconsider that approach. If they got any privacy in the near future that is.

Despite a calm and frankly passive outward demeanor, Samara was speeding through sky lanes as fast as her vehicle would carry them. She may pretend that this Morinth was nothing more than an out of control criminal that merely escaped justice for too long but, this was personal. The Asari was intentionally making reckless maneuvers with the civilian ship to get them to the Dracon Trade Center faster. From Jack's perspective, Samara was potentially putting innocents in danger with the movements her ship made. He wondered just how serious a criminal it took for a Justicar to put others in peril to complete their task. Kal suggested earlier that the actions Samara was taking right now went against everything her group stood for but, he wasn't about to question her judgement, in case she would shoot him for it.

Just as he thought she was going to send them crashing into another vehicle, Samara swerved taking a hard right turn and sent them towards what had to be Dracon. Unlike the Dantius Towers, which had a degree of general grit to it due to the fact it was still under construction when he visited, Dracon was the catalyst of beauty and wealth. While the first few floors went straight upwards like a stereotypical building on Earth, the top third twisted around as if the building was an enormous ice cream cone. The sparkling lights he had marveled at from a distance were however less eye catching up close when he realized at least for the Trade Center, the lights were actually stock readouts from across the galaxy.

Samara parked the vehicle in the first available space she could find and started moving towards the building, "The Baria Frontiers offices are located on the third floor. I suggest we hurry."

Jack got out after her knowing Kal and Ashley was right behind him for different reasons, "Shouldn't we wait for Jacob and Thane to get here? I don't want to be unprepared facing Morinth or whoever wants Liara dead."

She kept moving, essentially ignoring him, "If Morinth is behind the attack on your friend, she is acting irrationally and out of her character meaning your friend is already dead. If someone else is behind this, we have no idea what their motives could be and are thus unpredictable. Whichever is the case, we must move quickly."

Kal checked his pistols ammo while flanking her other side, "We're going to get her this time Samara.. She's not going to get away for another fifty years."

Ashley jumped into the conversation as they got closer to the front door, "Just to be clear, he can't make that kind of promise as a prisoner of the Alliance. Our goal is finding Feron, nothing more."

Samara stared back at her, "On the contrary, the code demands Kal's life rests on him being right."

Ashley tensed almost glaring at her, "He's Alliance propert-"

An ear shattering explosion cut her off and sent them flying off their feet. Jack felt the heat from the shockwave even though he could see it was from several floors above them. He remembered how he felt immediately after the surprise attack on Elysium, afraid for the unknown. Illium certainly had a reputation for being just as dangerous as Omega but, Jack doubted most of the crimes here had the kind of scale Omega had. Crimes here happened in the shadows because the populace still had respect for authority, no matter how incompetent that authority might be. Kal was the first to scramble to his feet to make sure he was ok and they gazed around the area. Luckily, it was extremely early in the morning so not as many people got hurt as could've been if this happened in the middle of the day but, a good six or seven civilians had been injured.

Samara counted which floors had fire streaming out of the windows now, "They just took out three floors to make sure she died. I highly doubt Morinth was behind this but, she still could somehow be involved."

One of the Asari civilians yelled, "Oh god! Kitari?! What’s happening?"

Jack could care less about Morinth at the moment, getting one of the other Asari out of the rubble with Kal's help, "Do you have medi-gel on you? These people aren't going to make it without some."

Samara started using her biotics to lift more rubble away, "I will tend to the wounded until medical professionals arrive. Commander, go inside and find your friend or Morinth, I will be along shortly."

Ashley had an irritated tone once again, "He's not a Commander, or in charge anymore. I get to decide how we respond now."

Jack threw his arms wide gesturing around the chaos in genuine frustration with her, "And what would you have us do instead, oh great and powerful Ashley Williams? You have another idea? I'd love to hear how it's somehow better than what she just said."

He had a feeling they were about to get into another physical confrontation when Kal yelled, "Ashley get down!"

Jack watched Kal fire several rounds into the air over Ashley's shoulder. The rounds seemed pointless until a Cerberus Phantom Knight appeared out of thin air behind her only to collapse on the ground from Kal's shots. It wasn't the first time the Quarian used his helmets thermal imaging as a way to get an advantage on the assassin's. They should've just tried coming at them in the open, it might actually be a fair fight that way. Jack knew it wasn't over, this had to be the latest in the bold string of terrorist attacks Cerberus or 'Lazarus,' was up to. It seemed too convenient to be coincidence though, this had to have something to do with Liara and what she was up to. Yet, that didn't make any sense since Liara's first bit of data suggested Lazarus and the Shadow Broker negotiated to trade Feron. Why go after Liara? From all accounts, she was an employee to the organization Lazarus wanted to get in bed with. He needed to focus now though. The encounter just made him wish he had armor and a helmet so they didn't have to solely rely on Kal's eyes for information.

Ashley rolled away and turned around shooting blindly in the dark, "How many are we dealing with Kal?"

Kal took several more shots before having to reload, "Nine, maybe ten of them that I can see. More are probably on the way knowing Cerberus."

He felt rather useless fighting blind like this especially without better firepower. His shots in the vague direction Kal pointed in seemed pointless, whizzing through the air clearly missing any of the assassins. For her part, Samara stayed completely focused on pulling survivors of the explosion away from the rubble almost as if there wasn't a fight going on at all. Even though she couldn't see them, he was sure her biotic power was more useful in a battle than just picking up rocks. The clicking noise from Kal's gun signifying it was out of ammo made Jack want to throw his over to him but, the Quarian already threw his own pistol forward hitting one of the Phantoms. Not skipping a beat, Kal ran straight towards the assassin while his own gun was still in the air only to jump on the target, wrapping his long powerful legs around the currently invisible man's shoulders. He used gravity to twist them both on the ground, grab his sword, and use it to presumedly slash the Human somewhere.

Jack fired his own last few shots into the night air, covering Kal and helping him get back up. "Remind me to never get on your bad side. I wouldn't want you coming after me for something stupid like killing your Varren." It was a joke about one of the first vids they had ever watched together.

Kal laughed at the joke taking his hand, "I'd never be mad enough at you to kill you. Probably just yell at you..." As he was getting up, Kal threw the sword at Ashley but, it killed a Phantom behind her, "Perhaps you should rethink the whole 'they don't need weapons or armor' thing Williams."

Ashley shook her head and started shooting ahead of them where the Phantoms were decloaking, "Not a chance Red, prisoners don't get weapons and you two seem to be doing just fine without them."

Jack could count at least fifteen more Phantoms marching towards them from the parking area, "We need to get in the building to see if Liara survived the blast. We have to fall back."

Samara shook her head groaning as she saved another Asari family from a ship fire, "No! There are still civilians trapped here, we will not abandon them!"

Ashley seemed very irritated as she tapped her omni tool, "Jacob, Thane, where the hell are you two?"

Jacob came through all of their omni tools, "The explosion made traffic a nightmare using public transportation. I'm not going to get there anytime soon but uhh... Thane's using an unorthodox means. He'll be there in a few minutes."

Ashley winced as one of the blades grazed her shoulder when it was thrown by one of the assassins, "That's still too long, we need to retreat. Everyone, fall back! Jacob tell Thane to meet us inside when he gets here."

Samara stepped forward with an expression of rage on her face, "No! We will not allow the citizens to perish out of fear for our own safety!"

On the one hand, Jack understood where she was coming from and had even followed in her footsteps on Elysium. Even with the odds stacked against them from the Batarian invasion, he still rescued as many citizens of the colony as he could back to the Everest. However, that decision arguably lead to him gaining the nickname, 'The Butcherer of Torfan.' While it was a hard lesson to learn, Jack realized that when there was no other option, you had to save yourself so that you can fight another day to save even more people. You couldn't just be a coward though either and only think about yourself, it was a fine line. Under the current circumstances, Jack felt like they had saved as many as they could and it was time to go. He was going to quickly explain this to Samara but, the Asari started to glow from gathering biotic energy. Before the Phantoms could react and switch targets, Samara sent a ten foot tall wave of biotic power in their direction. The wave sent everything from the Phantoms to parked vehicles off of the platform and into the skylane.

Ashley blinked glancing at the destruction and then back at Samara, "I don't want to even begin to tell you how useful that kind of power would've been two years ago."

Samara turned back to the group of injured Asari she had huddled together, "We will stay here and wait for the medical team to arrive. Shepard, now is your chance to help your lover keep his word to me. Find Liara and see if Morinth has some connection to the attack." 

Kal hesitated while picking up one of the Phantoms pistols still laying on the ground, "You shouldn't be alone down here, they're going to send more to finish the job."

To unintentionally illustrate his point, one of the assassins was climbing up from the edge of the platform to come back at them. Jack had to assume they used their sword as something to stab in the side of the building to keep them from falling to their death. He raised his pistol to shoot at them when he saw Thane jump off of a vehicle flying by, only to land in front of the Phantom. Apparently, Thane had been jumping from ship to ship while they were in flight to get here ahead of everyone else. Just a week ago Thane was on his deathbed, barely able to throw a punch. Seeing the Drell move with such speed and grace really was impressive after watching months of the opposite. Mordin really had cured Kepral's in two weeks from a jail cell in his spare time hadn't he?

Thane broke the Phantom's arm in three places before using biotics to send him far from the platforms edge, "Apologies for the delay, traffic was at a stand still, as you can imagine."

Ashley tilted her head acknowledging the apology despite the fact that Jack didn't think he needed to give them one, "You did whatever you had to in order to get here and that's the most important thing. Stay here with Samara, we're going inside."

Samara bowed her head, "We'll be right behind you shortly. Be on your guard, even in the middle of all this chaos Morinth is still a dangerous opponent. And I may not arrive to protect you in time." Her facial features shifted to a glance of bitter determination, "The code demands I make sure these people are safe before I can go after her."

Jack gave her a small smile doing his best to understand her code, "I'll keep you posted on this omni tool frequency. Hopefully Liara has the answers we're both looking for."

As he followed Ashley and Kal inside, Jack couldn't help but feel a little relieved Samara wasn't going inside with them immediately. If Morinth really did have some hand in all this carnage, the Asari swore to kill Kal because of the deal they had apparently made on Omega. Having some distance between them allowed him enough time after the potential discovery to come up with an exit strategy instead of instantly being forced into a fight. After watching her completely destroy the parking lot outside, Jack had no desire to fight Samara in a head to head match up. He doubted that even an Asari Matriarch could kill a Justicar, let alone a Human with former biotic abilities. With that in mind, their best hope was that Morinth had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing, or the three of them could get off of Illium before Samara caught up with them.

His mind flipped back to the more immediate concern of what was happening around them as they stepped into Dracon. Jack felt like he saw more people than he should limping out of offices and laying on the floor sobbing for how late it was on Illium. Then he remembered all the neon signs outside representing stock markets on other worlds all across the galaxy and realized this place had to function on galactic standard time. Honestly, it was an absolute miracle this building wasn't extremely crowded with traders and credit borrowers. If Jack had to guess he would say all the employees were on their lunch break instead of sleeping. Either way, they had dodged a major bullet and it opened up the possibility that the bombing really didn't have anything to do with Morinth. Maybe that was too much to hope for knowing his luck and the fact that everything was happening now.

Once they were out of earshot inside the building, Ashley asked, "So what's the deal with you and the Justicar, Red? Having married Jack I can't picture you with an Asari."

Kal was frustrated and got straight to the point, "After Jack died I sort of lost my way and ended up on Omega. I was planning an attack on Afterlife and Samara was looking for Morinth at the same time. I made a deal with her to make sure she didn't mess with my attack. Things got complicated."

Ashley stared at him after walking over a dead body, "Wait...you were on Omega for two years and planned an assault on Afterlife...? You were part of Archangel weren't you?"

The question made him wince knowing admitting something else illegal Kal did was a bad idea but, then he did a double take. Ashley had just stepped over a dead body on the first floor. More importantly, while other employees seemed to be shook up from the attack, this Human was the only dead person on the floor. Jack looked to the ceiling to make sure the body hadn't fallen through the floor due to the explosion only to find the ceiling was perfectly intact. Jack silently interrupted them by pointing to the body hoping they would get the picture. It's presence gave only two possibilities; either some Cerberus Phantoms had slipped in before the attack to kill this man, or, Morinth was here and killed him. The truth didn't exactly matter in the short term, Jack just had to make them aware they weren't alone in here.

Kal gave a quick scan around the room with his helmet, "I don't see anyone in here, whoever killed him is long gone now."

Ashley bent down to the body examining him, "Looks like he’s got.... bullet wounds?" She tapped her omni tool, "Watch yourself coming in to follow us, Samara. Whoever did this used military-grade hardware to gun a guy down."

Samara sounded confused, "Military-grade hardware? Guess this was more than just an explosion. It isn't Morinth's preferred killing method but, she can use guns when she's desperate. Be cautious."

When the comm cut, Jack couldn't help but glare at her, "Could you have not of done that? Samara wants to kill Kal if she finds out Morinth killed anyone else. We don't need to give her that evidence."

Ashley shrugged as though she was talking with him over tea, "She was going to find the body eventually so I thought it would be better if we were the ones to give her a heads up. Besides, I have a feeling Alliance law trumps this 'code' anyways. As long as your prisoners your both under the Alliance's protection."

He was about to argue how ethnocentric that was when Kal interrupted them, "K...Keelah, Jack we know this guy."

Jack looked down at the body again and realized Kal was right, this was Conrad Verner. Conrad had an odd fascination with him ever since he used his taxi to get to Chloe Michel's clinic during the beginning of the hunt for Saren. This rather unhealthy obsession culminated when Conrad was their waiter at the aquarium Kal purposed a Human marriage. Was he annoying whenever they had interacted? Absolutely. Did he deserve to die because of the ultimately harmless cheerleading? Absolutely not. This had to be just a coincidence, no one could plan for Jack to be here since he hadn't even known he was coming. It was still painful to consider his death was most likely meaningless, Conrad couldn't hinder anyone's plan even if he tried.

Ashley glanced between them surprised by the growing silence, "Was he part of the second Normandy crew or something?"

He bent down and made sure to close his eyes, "No, he was just a fan of mine..."

Just as Jack was recovering from the surprise, a series of gunshots could be heard above them. Ashley tensed and ran up the stairs knowing she didn't have to explain the urgency. Theoretically no one was supposed be alive up there so, just the fact that anyone was making noise was alarming. When they rounded the first set of stairs they heard even more gunshots made his heart race. A single bullet could potentially kill someone like Liara if she somehow survived the building. What was worse was if Morinth was the one shooting, no way she didn't kill someone with the amount of shots he heard. However, when they passed the Baria Frontiers office sign, Jack was stunned and confused to hear very familiar voices between the bullets.

Garrus was first and he sounded more panicked then ever before, "What the hell are you doing Saren?! That's Liara!"

Morinth's voice answered for him, "The boss said no one can follow us, that means the bitch here has to die."

Liara surprisingly had a mocking tone, "Now that you know I know your secret I'm a bitch? How charming of you Morinth, I'm having a hard time wondering why you can't keep up a stable relationship."

He stopped himself from sliding around the corner when a hail of gunfire met the door. Waiting a few seconds, Jack scooted along the wall to see what he was dealing with around the corner. Saren, Garrus, Legion, and Morinth were standing next to what looked like a cryo pod on the far side of the room while Liara was ducking behind the desk in front of him close to the door. Morinth being here he could at least understand, Liara found out her secret and she wanted to eliminate a loose end. Why were the other three here helping her do it though was the question. As far as Jack knew, Saren had planned to go to the Perseus Veil to help Legion find the Geth Processing Center, what changed? There was a fear without the control chip that Saren had somehow become indoctrinated once again but, Garrus and Legion had been with him the whole time, they wouldn't have let that happen. So, that implied helping Morinth helped their quest in some way.

Before he could come up with a plan for attack, Saren vaulted above the table and grabbed Liara's wrist. Jack spun around the corner to help her when Legion fired vaguely in his direction to keep him pinned down. He had seen the Geth and his newer Quarian counterpart be able to hit a target one thousand meters away so, the fact he actively missed was a good sign. At least they weren't completely the bad guys right now. That didn't help Liara though who was using her other arm to try and desperately shoot at Saren only to miss around his shoulder. The Turian kicked her in the gut to grab a small data disk in her hand before using biotics to throw her into the wall behind Jack. The three of them came around the corner at once now to shoot Morinth thinking she had to be the reason Saren was doing this only for the Ardat-Yakshi to duck behind the cryo pod.

The Asari yelped, "Three more to kill I guess. Help me you idiots."

Saren gave her and then Jack a look, he was obviously working out what to do in his head and Jack couldn't exactly blame him. If he really needed the Shadow Broker to help him find the Geth Processing Hub that had to take priority. Legion and Rael's solution to defeating the Reapers was their best chance now that the Reapers were coming any day now. On the other hand, getting that help now involved shooting them in the face. He was stunned the Turian was actually hesitating at all personally thinking the choice was pretty clear even though Jack didn't like it. The wait at least signaled Saren had compassion in him somewhere, he wasn't indoctrinated, Jack was sure of it. His body tensed getting ready for a fight when Saren gave him a last apologetic stare and in a fast motion started shooting, at Kal. No, he was supposed to hit him. Panic turned to relief when Liara's biotic powers wrapped around Kal and yanked him out of the way just in time.

Garrus fired at Saren's gun hand making the Turian howl in pain and roll behind the cryo pod, "Legion get the elevator door open, now!"

Morinth could be heard over the gunshots, "We came here to kill them, that's what we're going to do."

Ashley recklessly started charging at the pod, "I don't think so!" Her assault rifle peppered the base of the cryo pod breaking several hoses.

Morinth stood up pulsing with a dark purple biotic energy, "ENOUGH!" 

Out of nowhere, all of them except Saren and Legion were lifted into the air. Jack wished he had his own biotics to fight what was happening but, he doubted it would've made a difference. She had the power to pick them all up off the ground without breaking a sweat. His fear only grew when she started squeezing their throats closed all at once. He didn't have the strength to fight her and Saren seemed conflicted yet again. The Turian was obviously struggling killing just one of them and now he was being asked to sacrifice them all in exchange for the greater good. Could he do it?

Saren grabbed her wrist with his one hand breaking her focus and sending them all to the ground gasping for air, "I hear people coming, move!"

Jack could only gulp for air and watch as Saren, Legion, and Morinth dragged the leaking pod into the elevator. It was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 6: Hotel Azure

Jack was still having trouble catching his breath after almost being strangled to death by Morinth but, he had to get up and get moving. If Saren took Sekat's data away from Liara, he had to catch him right now. That data was the only way they were going to be able to find the Shadow Broker and keep their deal with the Alliance to find Feron. He looked around and saw Kal was the first to get to his feet and help Liara up, it was a good thing the Asari had biotics or he'd be dead right now. A part of him still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Saren had pulled the trigger with the intent to kill Kal just to stay on Morinth's good side. Maybe Legion was right and taking the control chip out of Saren had been the worst decision he had ever made. Now wasn't the time to go over his past decision making process, they had to find Saren.

He stood up and started moving to the currently closed elevator doors, "Everyone alright? We have to get moving."

Ashley rolled her neck around reloading her assault rifle, "Yeah, except I could use an explanation for what the hell is going on here. First we have to deal with Cerberus, and then Saren shows up? Seems like an awful close coincidence if you ask me."

Liara was the only other person to seemingly understand the urgency of the situation and stood beside him, "Lazarus, not Cerberus. You can tell by the use of the Phantom Knights."

Garrus continued with a sigh, "As for Saren, I think he's just gone crazy, or worse, he's indoctrinated again somehow. He kept trying to make me understand that we had to fight for the big picture... To make sacrifices for the good of the galaxy. I don't know if he really believed what he was saying or, something else was pushing him to say it."

Liara tapped the up button on the elevator impatiently, "Saren has always held that belief Garrus, control chip or no. It's what attracted Sovereign to him to begin with but, I don't think he's indoctrinated or we'd all be dead right now. Regardless, we have to catch up with them as fast as we can for Feron's sake. Saren took my last lead to the Broker away from me."

As they all stepped into the large elevator, Ashley frowned. "Ok then, here's what I don't get. Why would Lazarus set a bomb off in this building now? Didn't you say they were making a deal with the Shadow Broker to get rid of Feron? Why jeopardize that now?"

Liara directed the elevator to the top floor, "I can only speculate but, I think they wanted to be the ones to make the hand off. When the Broker picked Morinth and Saren instead, they lashed out. Attacked my apartment thinking I was Morinth, bombed this place to finish the job. I think they lost a considerable amount of data when they split from Cerberus and taking it by force from the Broker seems like the easiest solution for them."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, "How can you guess all of that? Do you have a line in to their command structure we don't know about?"

Since the bombing just happened, the elevator was incredibly slow giving Liara time to answer with, "No, I wish I did though. All you have to do is focus on who's attacking us to make an educated guess. The Phantom Knights have historically followed Kai Leng so there's no reason to think they would charge that now. And since Leng never had a good relationship with the science division of Cerberus, it's easy to assume some data could have been lost in a separation."

He was about to ask something else when the elevator started twisting around. At first, Jack was concerned that the explosion caused a structural problem in the elevator track but, then he remembered the layout of Dracon. They must've been starting to go up the 'ice cream cone' section of the building. If he and Kal were ever going to have the opportunity to retire here, this was going to take some getting used to. His feet felt like they were constantly shifting and losing their footing as the elevator twisted around and around the tower repeatedly. Hopefully, Liara had chose the right floor to get off on because he didn't want to have to make multiple trips on this thing.

When the doors opened the first thing that caught Jack's eye was the bright neon sign reading, "Hotel Azure." The flowy font type made him think of a trashy porno, and the almost naked Asari paintings flanking each door certainly didn't change his image of the place. It reminded him of Chora's Den, another Asari strip club he had been forced to go to on the Citadel, the entrance there was between a holographic Asari's legs. In both cases, Jack was a little surprised by the lack of class for the regal race, moreso on Illium. As an Asari dominant world, you'd think they wouldn't have to subject themselves to this kind of career path. He should ask Liara sometime how many Asari actually enjoyed being strippers when they had the chance. The more important item to focus on however was a blue blood trail from a Turian and cryo pod coolant. How Liara knew this was where they were going Jack didn't understand but, she had been right.

Samara commed in on the omni tool, "I can just now see the medical vehicles on the horizon, I shouldn't be much longer. How is the pursuit going?"

Ashley answered for them, "We ran into Saren and got into a scuffle with him and his pet Geth. They're injured helping Morinth though so they can't get very far."

Samara's tone tried to hide her shock, "Saren Arterius is still alive? Maybe I was wrong in thinking the Commander always did good work."

Thane jumped in before they could say anything else, "From my experience the most dangerous target is the one who's injured and thinks they're cornered. Don't underestimate her after you've won the first confrontation."

Jack chuckled amused by Thane's assumption Morinth lost the first engagement, "I don't think that's going to be a problem. Just get up here as soon as you can, if Saren's helping Morinth we need all the help we can get."

The five of them walked into the hotel to find that a receptionist was still attending to the front desk. Had she not heard the explosions or understood that they were in the middle of a terrorist attack? Since the hotel was on the top floor maybe she didn't know what was happening. However, had she not seen a bleeding one handed Turian, an Asari with a leaking cryo pod, and a literal Geth come through the doors just seconds earlier? What was even more stunning was that the Asari merely smiled as the five of them, who were clearly armed, walked in. He didn't want to truly know what a normal day in this hotel was like if the Asari wasn't panicking right now. This was the first time for Jack that the comparisons between Illium and Omega actually had some merit to them. Aria still kept Afterlife going after an assassination attempt on herself and this really wasn't any different. 

She continued with her grin to them, "Welcome to Hotel Azure, my name is Lizarmia! How can I help you today?"

Garrus just stared at her in disbelief, "Are you for real lady? You should be getting out of here."

Jack cut in following the trail with Liara knowing they didn't have time for a discussion, "We're just meeting some friends, thanks for the offer though."

Her voice sounded rehearsed as they kept going, "Well, I do hope you have a good time. And remember, day or night, rain or shine, holiday or week day, Hotel Azure hosts all of your primal needs free of judgment."

Kal tilted his head in confusion, "How did you know they were going to come through here Liara?"

Liara avoided his glance as they continued down the main hall of rooms following the blood trail, "You heard Liz, Hotel Azure is a place for sex, the perfect location for an Ardat-Yakshi to feed. Morinth worked here so she could get the energy she needs without getting noticed. She should still have her ship in the employee dock."

Jack raised an eyebrow having not seen that coming, "You knew what she was up to and didn't move on her faster? How many was she able to kill working here?"

Liara appeared more depressed than offended by the accusation, "I was trying to make friends with her so I could kill her another time but," She made a point to look at Kal, "sometimes you have to prioritize your own mission instead of what's right. I don't want to begin to count how many she murdered, enough."

Garrus and Kal both fell silent and Jack could only imagine what was going through their heads right now. While he didn't have the full picture of what happened on Omega, Jack could tell they were going to take responsibility for those deaths. Maybe if they had let Samara attack Afterlife before them the people Morinth killed here wouldn't have died. He couldn't argue with the logic but, if they had just waited a week he would've gotten Mordin at his clinic without incident and probably have never of seen them again. Of course, that didn't change the fact she killed countless innocent people in the meantime but, Jack couldn't help but feel a little selfishly glad they had rushed to save him.

A scream brought him back to the present and Garrus raised a browplate, "What was that?"

Liara seemed to brush it off continuing to march forward, "Probably just some of the patrons having sex, we don't have the time to worry about it."

Another scream in the room directly next to Jack made him sick, "PLEASE! Let me live! Please let me live. I’ll do my mantras every week. I’ll give to charity. ANYTHING! Please, I have a daughter!"

Jack knew deep down that Liara was right, they couldn't let Morinth get away for all of their sakes. But, those screams in combination with the shared glance between him, Garrus, and Kal made them move into action against the door. There was the possibility that Liara was right, maybe someone was playing out their twisted fantasy in the next room. If it was more serious than that though and they hadn't checked on it, Jack was sure it would eat away at the three of them for a long time, especially with the room so close. On the silent count of three, Jack kicked down the door with the two of them behind him and what he saw only made him feel far worse. An Asari was strapped to a spinning wheel while a Human with his pants on the ground pooled at his feet. The man was clearly getting excited throwing knives at her.

The Human turned around to face them clearly angry he was interrupted, "Hey, we’re unarmed! We didn’t see anything! So why don't you just fuck off and get your own entertainment?"

Garrus' voice was cold as he suddenly shot the man's exposed length, "I think it's time you get a new hobby."

Jack had to agree with him but, sometimes he was reminded more strongly then others that Garrus was Saren's brother. "How are you doing ma'am?"

The Asari was in a tearful panic staring at them, "Oh, oh thank the goddess you came. I thought I was done for..."

Jack smiled while he and Kal quickly got to work bringing her down over the man's screams, "We're happy to help. Just make sure you get out of here, there's an Ardat-Yakshi on the loose."

Her eyes widened in a panic, "Shit, they let Yakshi work here? I'm getting out without my retirement package..nothing is worth not getting to be a grandmother." The Asari left as soon as she was back on her feet.

The Human was sobbing and clutching at his bleeding crotch, "Hey, hey what about me? You can't just leave me here! I need medi-gel, and protection from the Ardat-Yakshi!"

Garrus had no sympathy in his tone, "Oh don't worry, an Ardat-Yakshi wants sex and I'm making sure that doesn't happen for you ever again. As for medi-gel, I'm all out. Maybe if you hurry the receptionist can get you some before you bleed your life away."

He crawled towards Ashley with a desperate stare to his eye, "Don't let the Turian get his way. Come on, we're both Human lady. Help me out here."

Ashley had a disgusted expression on her face, "We might both be Human buddy, but we are nothing alike. The receptionist is down the hall and around the corner."

As they left him Kal whispered, "He might die by the time he gets there you know. Especially since a lot of his blood was already down there so to speak."

Garrus almost had a growl to his voice, "Good riddance, anyone who gets off on torturing others deserves to die. What kind of hotel is this Liara?"

Liara was already at the next set of doors at the end of the hall, "Azure. The official advertisement says it’s a luxury resort with an... exotic edge. 'Azure' is slang for a part of the Asari body in some areas of Illium. I hope you didn't cost us Morinth and Feron in exchange for saving her."

Even if it had, in the moment Jack felt like it was worth it. He might not feel that way when the consequences for losing Feron was spending the rest of his life in an Alliance prison but, right now, with the screams having been so close it felt good. Besides, the blood trail was still fresh as he joined Liara at the door meaning they weren't that far behind. When they pushed through the door they entered a much more classy hotel lounge area for food and drinks. It was still early with the sun just starting to come up over the horizon but, there were plenty of people here eating, it was probably all the employees that should've been at the Trade Center working when the bombs went off. At the far end of the lounge Jack saw Morinth, Saren, Legion, and the cryo pod clustered around a locked door.

Morinth had a panicked tone when she saw them, "They're here you idiot! Move aside and hold them off while I break down the door!"

Saren's voice was that low smug pitch he remembered from their first few encounters when he was indoctrinated, "This door? Oh, I'm afraid it's already been unlocked for some time... I was just waiting to tell you until they arrived so I could do this." Without any other warning, Saren whipped out his pistol in his hand and shot her in the leg, "She's all yours Shepard, just stay out of my way if you know what's good for the galaxy."

Liara sprinted forward trying to get past Morinth, "We can't let him get away with that data!"

Jack knew it was already too late when the door closed behind Legion and Morinth stood up throwing Liara back with biotics, "If I can't get the data in that pod, no one can!" Morinth shouted.

Ashley watched as Jack picked Liara up off the ground and motioned for the rest of them to surround her, "Morinth! Your dealing with five on one with many more on the way. It’s over!"

Morinth looked around desperately and saw a Human cowering for cover right next to her, "Hey! Hey, you. Come here." She physically grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the table she was hiding behind by gun point, "What’s your name beautiful?"

The young Human woman was trembling in fear having obviously never seen a gun before, "M...Mariana."

Morinth stroked her cheek with her free hand positioning her as a shield, "Mariana, you want to live, don’t you? Tell those people how badly you want to live."

Mariana stared at them desperately like she was a deer in the headlights, "Please..."

Jack knew just how important it was to get Morinth to free this woman was. While Morinth had apparently already killed who knows how many people making Kal's deal with Samara already broken, the Asari didn't know that yet. However, she could arrive at any moment and if Morinth actually pulled the trigger, Samara would be able to see it. He had no idea in that scenario whether or not Samara would choose to kill Kal or Morinth first. Either way, they didn't need that kind of complication when they had so much to deal with already. So even though Ashley was technically the one in charge, Jack felt like he had to take over the hostage negotiations knowing he would have a gentler touch compared to her.

He kept his arms wide to show he wasn't going to make any sudden movements and stared at her, "Mariana, my names Commander Shepard with the Alliance Navy and I’m here to help. We’ll get you out of here safely, I just need you to stay calm. Can you do that for me?"

Mariana nodded far too quickly shaking like a leaf, "Y...yes."

Morinth smirked moving to speak directly against the Human's ear, "Well, that’s good to hear. All you have to do is walk away. Before things gets ugly."

Mariana was trembling as tears streamed down her face, "Please. I have a son, he's...he's only four years old. I...I can show you a picture of him if you'd like?"

Morinth sneered this time as her free hand stopped the other's movements while she stared at Jack, "A son? I hope he gets to see you again. I’ve heard losing a parent is just horrific for children. Scars them for life."

Liara gritted her teeth trying to get a clear shot on her, "I’m going to end you, Morinth."

Morinth glanced at her feigning hurt in her words, "So much for darling and sweetheart I guess. Too bad, you would've had the night of your life, before you died that is."

Jack's heart was pounding from the fact that this was getting worse, not more calm, "It’s okay Liara, we’ll handle it. What do you want Morinth, let's just start with that."

Morinth dragged herself to her feet with her hostage, "You don't want Mariana’s little boy to grow up without a mommy, do you Shepard? Thermal clips on the ground, now! Power cells, too."

He considered his options carefully knowing whatever he did had consequences. His first option was pretty simple, have them all open fire on Morinth. It would certainly get the job done with all of them firing but, Mariana had a ninety percent chance of dying in the process. Jack knew doing that would bring about Samara's anger, probably to the point of killing Kal. Unfortunately, the other option of listening to Morinth's demands had it's own set of problems. What if the next thing she ordered was to take Liara or Garrus with her to escort her out of here. Without their weapons it wasn't like they could say no and fight back. Their only hope was Samara showing up, which meant buying more time, even if that meant Saren was going to have enough time to get out of here.

Jack dropped his gun on the ground, kicking it towards her, "You heard her everyone, we surrender."

Ashley was the only one to hesitate giving him a furious look before throwing her gun on the ground as well. Morinth grinned knowing she had won, "What a good listener you are Shepard. Now, I-"

Samara's voice was full of righteous fury as she marched forward from behind them, "Morinth!"

Morinth threw Mariana like a ragdoll towards a table only for Garrus to catch her using the jetpacks on his feet, "Mother."

If he had heard that right, it certainly explained a few things. Samara was so invested in killing Morinth not just because she was an Ardat-Yakshi, but because she was personally responsible for her existence. Since the disease was genetics related, he wondered if Samara had known she was going to have the condition. Maybe she thought she could teach Morinth something better and instead lost control of her completely. They were dealing with a family tragedy but, Jack couldn't focus on the philosophical drama playing out there were civilians all around them. While the two Asari were starting to toss tables, chairs, and knives around the room with their biotics, Jack motioned for the others to help him get the innocent people to safety. Not just for doing a good deed either, if any one of these civilians died Kal would follow them.

Samara snarled ducking to avoid a plate being hurled at her, "Do not call me that."

Morinth groaned as a table leg swept under her to hit her in the spot Saren shot earlier, "I can’t choose to stop being your daughter. Mother!"

Samara kept the pressure on that weak leg sending everything she could at it, "You made your choice long ago."

Morinth let herself fall over only so she could fling all the sharp objects she could see at Samara, "What choice? My only crime was being born with the gifts you gave me".

Samara melted all of the knives and forks with her biotics but, even as he was dragging as many people out of the room as he could, Jack could see she was becoming mentally exhausted, "Enough, Morinth!"

Morinth sensed the exhaustion in her mother as well kicking up some of the metal dust in her face before stumbling to her feet with a gun in hand, "I am the genetic destiny of all the Asari. But they are not ready to reveal this, so I must die? No, no it is you who will die this day."

Kal slid in from behind her with a kick to her good knee making her miss the shot, "It's the end of the line Morinth."

Morinth's eyes grew wide from the pain and shock as she turned her rifle towards him, "You get to die today too for all the shit you've put me through."

Samara drew her own pistol in a flash pointing it at her daughter, "You are a disease to be purged, nothing more. Find peace in the embrace of the goddess." She pulled the trigger twice shooting Morinth in the head.

The immediate silence that followed after the shot was pretty wonderful if Jack was being honest. Yes, he had spent the good part of three weeks in a jail cell doing absolutely nothing but, ever since they landed on Illium it felt like he was constantly running around in some kind of danger. To be fair, only a part of the danger was gone now that Morinth was dead and yet, it still felt good to relax. Liara started sprinting to the door Saren had gone through as if by some miracle he was still waiting for them, he knew that was just wishful thinking. Saren made himself clear from what he said it was clear he thought Jack actually endangered the galaxy, not helped it. He couldn't help but feel like the Turian had a point, if Jack didn't let emotions play into his decisions, maybe Kal wouldn't have felt comfortable saving Zero instead of stopping the cycle.

Liara returned from the door giving him a grave expression, "They're gone, and I have no idea where they went."

Kal was distracted letting Samara help him up, "I told you you wouldn't have to wait another fifty years to kill her didn't I?"

Samara didn't seem happy with the result but, she nodded hoisting him to his feet, "You have lived up to your end of the bargain so I will live up to mine. Kal'Reegar Vas Nedas, you are hereby free from your deal with me. You may now go forth without fear of the wrath of a Justicar."

Jack smiled at him sadly feeling a little wrong about not telling her Morinth killed dozens in this hotel alone but keeping Kal safe was more important, "You could come with us Samara, Ashley was telling the truth when she said we needed firepower."

Samara appeared to be more defeated by the victory then anything else, "I am afraid there is still injustice in the world that I must attend to. Good luck in your travels Shepard, I hope we do not meet again."

Another silence fell over the group as everyone surely had the same question in their mind, now what? Finding Feron was supposed to be simple with Liara's help, Kal thought that plan was going to get them out of prison. Her only lead had dried up and they were back to square one all over again. The only person he could think of to help them was Miranda but, if Feron's cover had been blown she was surely dead for not catching and dealing with it sooner. And even if by some miracle she was alive, she wouldn't want to talk with them while Ashley and Jacob hovered around him. Miranda only had survival in mind when they separated so, she wasn't going to risk that by ending up in an Alliance cell with them. At the very least, they had gotten a cure for Kepral's but, even that seemed pointless if the Alliance were just going to keep it a secret in a prison somewhere.

Ashley stared at the group of them giving her the same blank expression back, "So, what's the plan now guys?"

Liara shrugged turning away from her to watch the sunrise, "I don't know, you watched Saren take the data Sekat gathered for me slip into Saren's fingers. Until something happens we can take advantage of, we just have to wait. And hope Feron survives whatever plan the Shadow Broker has for him in the meantime."

Ashley obviously didn't like that answer but, she didn't have a better solution, "I'm going to go make sure none of the press see you all leaving a burning building after a terrorist attack. None of you should even think about trying to escape, if you do believe me I will pull the trigger."

Kal stopped her sounding genuinely curious, "That's awfully nice of you to care about our public image at all. Why even bother? You seemed determined to make sure we never see freedom ever again."

Ashley had a sarcastic edge to her voice, "The Admiral's don't want to taint a potential jury pool for the lot of you if the press finds out you were involved in yet more terrorist activity. Believe me, this isn't for you, it's to make sure we can put you all away when the time comes."

When she left to check for a press presence, Jack couldn't help but stand next to Liara, "We’ll get Feron out of there alive. I have faith in you at least."

Liara laughed with a tired sigh glancing up to him, "I know. Your here to help...... Just like always."

Jack tilted his head questioning her tone when she said that last part, "That’s not a good thing?"

Liara sighed looking out to the sky yet again, "When we first met on Therum, you saved me from the Geth. You fought Saren while I cowered behind Kaidan and Tali. Now your doing it again. And I’m still leaning on you for help, even if I don't want to be. No offense but, you can't be everywhere I am from a jail cell Jack."

Jack did his best to give her a smile, "That’s what friends do, Liara. And besides, last time we really got to talk you were barely able to shoot at cans. I'd say your doing better, and it didn't even take you a century to do it."

She laughed trying her best to give him a smile when a cough made him turn around. To his surprise, a Batarian was standing in the doorway where Saren had disappeared to, presumedly the docks. He wasn't as tall as some of the Batarians he had met during the Blitz and his skin color was a green and brown mix. His four blue eyes had a youthful, if not anxious look about them. Jack didn't want to be racist not knowing all of the differences between Batarian's physical appearance but, he couldn't help but feel like this Batarian seemed familiar. Jack was so distracted by taking his facial features in that he didn't notice until now that he was wearing a Cerberus uniform. There was no way he obtained that legitimately, Batarian's could care less about Humanity and it's well being.

The Batarian gave a little nervous nod, "I uhh.. I'm Griff. Miranda sent me to come get you without your Alliance friend. If you'd follow me please? I'd like to get out of here before she comes back... Cerberus needs your help again Shepard."


	8. Chapter 7: What's in A Name

Four years ago, Viper Nebula:

Hagaraz Hgar, he absolutely hated the name. Hag-arr-az, it was just too clunky and nothing like 'Bray,' or 'Lanea,' or even... 'Balak.' At least it wasn't Balak junior, that would be worse right now after everything his father had done. Just sharing the same last name as his father was enough to make him sick to his stomach. Attacking the innocent Humans on Mindoir had been bad enough, they had done nothing to the Batarian Hegemony, but he had just come back from Elysium. The planet wasn't just some far flung group of Humans trying to test themselves against the elements in some romanticized quest for glory like on Mindoir, Elysium was an Alliance base. If his father would read any books, he would know that Elysium was one of the first colonies established outside of Shanxi and held a special significance for them. But of course, his father was much more interested in immediate fixes and gratification than actually fixing Batarian problems in the long term.

From his point of view, it was a simple fact that they needed to be able to share with Humanity rather than try to take it over. They didn't attack their next door neighbors locally, why did that change the moment they left the Mass Relay's gravity well? Why did they feel entitled to everything Humanity already had? Did his father even look out the window or try to flush a toilet around here? How were they going to defeat Humanity, who was friends with the Council, when they couldn't even figure out how to make an effective sewage system work? It was down right suicide and his father was doing it without sanction from Omega. At this rate it would've been better if the Asari had never found them, they still needed a few hundred more years to evolve naturally.

His mother Lanea yelled at him, "Hag, Hagaraz are you even listening to me?! I need you to get a cold towel with water! Now!"

He moved out of instinct towards the kitchen but, could hear his father laugh, "Hah, Lanea our son is doing the first genuine act in his fifteen miserable years on this planet. Slow walking in the hope I'll die from an infection. Make your dad proud and shoot me if you think it'll make the world a better place."

Lanea stroked the good side of Balak's face, "Shhh, shhh, honey just relax you have a fever and you aren't speaking clearly. Shhh."

They all knew that wasn't true, Hagaraz and his father hated each others guts for a long time now. Balak had wanted a strong tank boy that could go out on raids and kill undesireables across the planet. From the time he was little, Hag just wasn't interested in killing, finding more enjoyment out of reading. It was his, albeit foolish, belief that you could solve any problem through education and enlightenment, not war. When the time came for his weapon mastery testing, he failed worse than any other Batarian planet side in a generation. It brought the Hgar family name down several castes and the only reason he wasn't shot in the backyard after was because he had been able to repair one of the instructors ancient gun from the sixth century. Hag remembered the teacher told him that the Hegemony needed mechanics as well and to start studying. Even though Hag objected to working on equipment used for war, it was the only thing keeping him from becoming an undesireable.

Hag gave the wet towel to his mother in frustration, "A towel and some dirty ass water from the kitchen isn't going to help him mom. He needs a doctor, he lost an eye for fucks sake!"

Lanea snapped in anger glaring over to him with all four eyes, "Don't you think I know that?! What would you have me do? Take him to the Citadel? Now? After everything he's already done? We would all be thrown in jail for the rest of our lives! So if you don't have another brilliant factoid from one of those effing books of yours, just sit down and be quiet!"

His mother never cursed trying to teach him to do the same but, that had never stuck. From his friends, to his teachers, to even dad everyone here said 'fuck,' or 'shit' on a regular basis. She was the one person on the whole planet to chide him for doing it, saying the act made the Batarians as a species appear backwards. While he generally agreed with her in principle, Hag thought there were plenty of other things holding them back besides a foul mouth. The fact she said 'effing' was a huge moment and told him all he needed to know about how bad the injury was. His mother had a genuine fear Balak was going to die of an infection after losing an eye doing god knows what on Elysium. Hag knew he needed to just shut up and sit down now but, something drove him forward. This was probably going to be his only chance to convince Mom to leave Dad.

Even though they tried their best to hide their relationship problems from him, there was only so much they could do when the house was made of mud. Balak had wanted to take him hunting for months now and they both knew what that meant, taking him somewhere remote to kill him for all his failings. The fight usually ended with Lanea threatening to leave him only to get smacked around and mocked. He never understood why she stayed with him for so long, it wasn't as if the Hegemony cared whether or not you stayed married as long as people stuck to the same caste for mating. The house was also just dried mud and leaves so she wasn't here for all the luxury life style he was supposedly providing her. And Hag had to ask how she could love someone who would come home with Human slaves to put in the barn when she was so loving to him? No matter the real reason his mother stayed, now might be his only chance to wake her up and convince her it was time to abandon him.

Hagaraz puffed out his chest and stood to his full height in defiance, "You know what no, I will not sit down Mom! We can get out of this by turning Dad's sorry three eyed ass into the Alliance. We have thirty innocent Hu-"

Balak cut him off in a rage, "Innocent?! You call any of the pieces of shit out their innocent? They took worlds away from us, good clean worlds, that we could have used! But no, the Council let them expand because they had a fleet that rivalled the Turians. So don't you dare talk to me about innocent little Humans. And if you want to betray me, say it to my god damned face boy."

Hag stormed towards him despite Lanea's silent plea for him to stop, "I'm going to go to the Alliance and tell them they're missing Mindoir civilians are in the pathetic excuse for a Batarian's farm. Coordinates and everything, because I actually read and can memorize that sort of thing instead of needing a VI to tell me what's on a restaurant menu."

The hands that leaped forward to his throat were expected but, that was part of the plan. He had insulted his father's intelligence, something no Batarian should do, even though everything he had just said was one hundred percent accurate. What wasn't a part of the plan was for his mother to just stand there and watch in a sort of paralyzed trance. This was supposed to wake her up, make her see he was a monster, despite the fact that it should've been clear to her a long time ago. Hag had to fight back on his own doing his best to elbow Balak's wrists to make him let go. When that didn't work, he physically pulled himself away from the grip, hoping that in his weakened state Balak wouldn't be able to follow him. He was right but, the man still tried only to end up face first on the floor.

A sound of a M-3 Avenger rifle going off made his head to whip around looking at Lanea pointing the gun at him, "I want you to get out of this house right now. I want you to get out and never come back. All you have ever done is bring shame and dishonor on our house, your father, and the entire soldier caste and I am sick of it! Go and be with all the other undesirables you always try to copy."

Her words stabbed him in the heart, no, no, no, no, no, she couldn't have meant that. That was a death sentence in all but name on this planet, no one would house him. No one would employ him. No one would give him even a single scrap of food even if he begged until he had no voice left to speak with. She loved him more than to do that to him, right? He had thought the answer was yes but, her aim was true and her finger hovered over the trigger, ready to shoot him at a moments notice. Was it just a show to potentially save him from Dad's wrath? No, if she actually wanted to take his side she would have shot Balak while he was down. All the beatings and abuse weren't enough for her, she was going to stay with him because that was the Batarian way.

Hag couldn't think about his options for long because she was shooting between his feet. He scrambled up to stand and started running down the dirt road of their neighborhood, as far away as he could manage. By the time his lungs finally ran out of oxygen running down streets, he estimated he had made it a mile. It wasn't nearly far enough if he was going to have any chance at having a life somewhere other than this planet. The hope he had to cling to was that his Mom would take care of Balak first and call in his caste status later. It wouldn't matter what the government of the Hegemony considered him if he was already on a ship headed to Omega. Is that where he really wanted to go? No one on the asteroid would care about anything he learned in books, some gang would just want to use him as muscle. The Alliance wouldn't listen to a random Batarian without proof, of which he had none. The situation he was in felt totally hopeless causing him to collapse on the side of the road in tears.

A Batarian's rough but kind voice came from slightly above him, "Mind if I sit down next to you..?"

He looked up to see the sad yet smiling face of Uncle Erash. While he had no actual familial connection to the Hgar's, Erash had been part of the family for some time now as one of Balak's top men. Hag usually didn't enjoy the kind of bloodthirsty Batarians who advised his father on what the best way to take Humanity down was but, he could tell Erash was different than the rest of them. Whenever the others would say they needed to make a bloody dash for Earth or Eden Prime, Erash was the only person to say that wasn't a good strategy. Granted, he didn't go far enough in Hag's opinion to try and stop this madness, it was still something. He could tell Erash what happened without immediate judgement.

His top two eyes were stinging with tears still streaming down the sides of his face, "She...she shot at me Erash. Bang! Bang! Bang.... What was I supposed to do?"

Erash took a deep breath looking out over the horizon obviously conflicted, "Your first mistake was saying you cared about the Humans he's keeping in that barn."

Hag let his voice get angry staring at him, "Of course I care about those people! How else are we going to survive as a species? Humanity would rather kill us all in nuclear hell fire rather than be our slaves."

Erash snorted as if amused by something he remembered, "Yeah that's definitely right but, you can care about people without saying it out loud. Who else is going to take care of those people now that your gone?"

He let his anger turn into a scowl, "So I was supposed to find time to feed those people secretly? Would that be before or after I got done studying for a test that literally determined whether I lived or died?"

Erash gave him a half smile, "You wouldn't have had to take that test if you agreed to go with us on our raids..."

Hag didn't feel any better from the poor attempt at a joke, "Maybe if Dad didn't want a war with Humanity we could focus on our own problems instead of strapping the responsibility to treat prisoners well on a fifteen year old."

Erash patted his shoulder gently, "That would be in an ideal world yeah but, we both know we aren't on one of those right now. A war is coming, and neither of us can stop it Hag. All we can do is do the best we can to minimize the damage."

The way he talked about the war made it seem as though it was inevitable, when from his point of view it wasn't. Either one of them could go back to that house, shoot Balak in the face, and then free the captured citizens of Mindoir. When he thought about it in his head the solution seemed so easy and better yet, satisfying. Hag saw the problem to that solution though pretty quickly, he and Erash were in the minority. Everyone else in the soldier caste all the way up to the ruling party viewed Humanity as the center to all of their problems. What Balak had started almost guaranteed someone else would take his place, championing death or enslavement for every Human living in the known galaxy. Maybe the only way for them to really wake up was to get their asses kicked by the Alliance. However, how many lives would have to be lost for the population to learn that lesson?

Hag didn't argue the point because he didn't have the balls to do it himself, "What should I do now..? Mom's gonna name me an undesirable with the authorities any minute now and I can't exactly make a run for it..." 

Erash looked like he was debating something before his expression morphed into stern determination, "Take my bike, make a fake name for yourself and get to the spaceport for the first ship off world you can find."

He stared at him in disbelief doubting his own ears, "What? No. If Mom and Dad find out you helped me get away after I told you everything that happened they'd kill you."

Erash gave him the best comforting smile he could muster in the moment, "Well then, it's a good thing some punk I didn't recognize coming from the mechanic caste stole my bike isn't it?" He tossed him the keys to try and encourage him, "Hey, what's your name kid?"

His first instinct was to just say Hagaraz with a confused look on his face but, Erash already knew that. The question was obviously designed to get him to think of something here instead of at the shuttle dock trying to come up with an original name and appearing to be an idiot. He had just thought about wanting a different name in the beginning of the day so it shouldn't be this damned hard but, he was only coming up with famous names that wouldn't fly with even the least observant shuttle pilot imaginable. He also wanted something as far away from sounding like Balak as possible to distance himself from it. It would be rather poetic he decided as a real fuck you to the Hgar family legacy to take a Humanish name.

Hag hopped on the bike while playing with the keys, "It's uhh..it's Griff sir."

Erash bowed his head politely while turning to walk in the direction of his old home, "Griff...not bad. I wish you luck in your future, and stay away from anything Batarian. You'll actually get the chance to make a real difference in the galaxy that way."

_o0o_

Present day, Tasale System:

Griff was being an idiot right now, just relax Batarians were a dime a dozen out here in the Terminus. There was no way they'd be able to figure out who he was, unless he kept shaking at the ship's controls like he was a leaf in the wind. What did he think was going to happen? The two of them would kill him for being the child of one of their worst enemies? By all accounts, Jack Shepard and Kal'Reegar were not like that, they helped save the Citadel after all. And that place was full of people who questioned whether or not they were insane or fucking each other depending on the hour. Then again, merely questioning your sanity was a lot different than forcing you to pull the trigger on your mother in her ship. Relax Hag, they're too wrapped up in there own problems to worry about who the hell you are.

Jack looked up at him from the back of the Kodiak, "So Griff," his own heart was pounding terrified of the question he was going to ask, "how do you know where the Shadow Broker is?"

Kal added bluntly, "And why is Miranda reaching out to us for help when she knows we have Alliance personnel all over us?"

Under normal circumstances those would be difficult to answer but, they weren't the questions he was worried about so the answers came naturally, "I know he's on Sowalia because I just came from there. The 'oceans' of eezo clouds boil during the day, then snap-freeze ten minutes after sundown. Great for harvesting energy."

Liara put her hand on her face seeming a little ashamed, "By the Goddess, the Shadow Broker lives in the gas giant neighboring Illium this whole time and I didn't know? Well, I guess I'm not the best information broker after all.."

Griff chuckled shaking his head, "I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. His ship follows the sunset. Completely undetectable in the storm the gasses give off, unless you know where to look."

Kal's tone dropped a little, "I can see why she likes you, changes the subject without answering the most important question. Why does Miranda need us?"

The real answer was easy, she was desperate for help. She was used to handling cells with a support structure around her, resources, protection, the works. He understood she always had the big picture goals in mind because of the everyday survival didn't have to be her problem with The Illusive Man in charge. Griff didn't grasp what brought her to shoot him though, she didn't know he was a fake until just a few hours ago. It didn't honestly matter right now though, what did was saving her and the other last Cerberus employees. And yet, he couldn't tell them the truth, the Alliance couldn't know just how weak Cerberus really was right now. Sure, Shepard might not want to kill scientists and their families but, Alliance Command wasn't so gentle.

He remembered her telling him the best lies had truth mixed in with them so he said, "The Shadow Broker offered to protect what's left of Cerberus after what happened.. Turns out he's kind of a madman wanting us to study indoctrination. She sent me out to-"

The Kodiak's shuttle computer cut him off, "Warning, target lock initiated.. Warning, take evasive action.."

Griff slapped the terminal as they entered the atmosphere of the gas giant, "Stupid thing, nothings on scanners. Sorry, anyways-"

This time the sound of gunfire came from behind them, Garrus tensed, "Jack I know those guns..."

It was going to be a race to the Shadow Brokers ship and he didn't even know what was behind them. Until it sped up to get past them and he could see the engine light pattern. No wonder sensors didn't pick it up, that was the SR2 Normandy, repaired from going inside the Omega-4 Relay by Lazarus.


	9. Chapter 8: Awaken The Beast

Miranda was pacing up and down the hall just outside the quarters the Shadow Broker had given the fifty remaining Cerberus personnel to. What was she going to tell them about their current situation? How much of the truth could she tell them before she risked an open revolt? Even though Cerberus prided itself on keeping branch activities separate and secret from one another, she would be a fool if she didn't account for some of them knowing what happened to Dr. Chandana and his team on the remains recovered from Sovereign. He had been one of their best researchers on Reapers and indoctrination, yet his entire team had been turned into Husks seemingly of their own accord. And now the Shadow Broker was asking them to study something Reaper related in exchange for his protection.

She still didn't fully understand what the Shadow Broker was after by studying indoctrination up close. Saren's "recovery" took two years and required him to be dead for the majority of that time. While she couldn't argue it wasn't a medical miracle, it couldn't exactly be creditized for normal people looking to cure their loved ones. Buying a cryo pod for two years to house the damaged bodies would set the average Human back millions of credits, and that was before considering the astronomical cost of organ replacement procedures. If the Reapers were going to be here any day now, governments were going to spend their credits on warships and other military equipment, not potential miracles that took two years to even have the possibility of having a return of investment. Surely the Shadow Broker was able to understand all the same things she was thinking so, what was the real reason he was asking them study someone indoctrinated? The top priority now though was getting everyone else on board, at least until Griff returned hopefully with Shepard.

The risk of asking Shepard for help again was clear, Alliance intervention. If Ashley Williams or another Alliance soldier was with Shepard when Griff asked, she would be opening the group to imprisonment, or worse, for all the crimes they had actually committed in the name of furthering Humanity. What choice did they have otherwise? The way she saw things there were only two possibilities for them if they didn't reach out to Shepard. The first was they'd die because of whatever Reaper tech they were about to come in contact with. That option appeared to be inevitable since none of them were as smart as Dr. Chandana and even he was seduced by the Reapers call. The other possibility was the Shadow Broker would kill them for becoming too cautious with whatever body they had been given. He obviously wanted results as soon as possible and he felt comfortable using them as guinea pigs. Shepard was their best chance to make it out alive despite his help potentially meaning they could end up in a jail cell. Some members of her science team wouldn't understand that though so she was going to have to lie to them, at least for the time being.

She stepped into their quarters where fifty anxious people were looking back at her, "Hello everyone, I know it's been awhile so I thought it might be a good idea to update you on what's happening. The Shadow Broker is not going to sell us out to Lazarus." A relieved sigh spread around the room like wildfire, "However, we're going to have to earn our keep."

Garner, a member of the kitchen staff, stood up, "I'll get to work on making him the best meal he's ever had ma'am."

Miranda shook her head, "I appreciate the enthusiasm Garner but, the Broker wants something more serious from us. Most of us are scientists... There's no easy way to say it, the Shadow Broker is bringing someone who's been indoctrinated. He wants us to study the process in the hopes we can find a way to reverse the effects."

A long silence fell over the room and Garner sat back down. She was right to assume word of Dr. Chandana's death had spread far beyond his own cell, what was she going to do about that though? That question was the reason she had been avoiding this conversation for the last few hours. It was just too much to hope for that Griff would've returned immediately with Shepard and make the question irrelevant. Would they believe her if she told them they were smarter than Chandana? In some cases that might even be true but, they had their own specific fields, and Reaper research wasn't one of them. Maybe she should have left Wilson alive, he was a terrible spy but, he knew his way around an operating table.

Dr. Archer stood up before she had time to come up with an answer, "I think I speak for the entire body here when I say no. We'd rather take our chances hiding from Leng on the Citadel."

Miranda put herself in front of the door so no one could leave, "I know your all scared, you don't think it's worth the risk.. Believe me when I tell you it is.-"

Archer shook his head interrupting her, "Are you now going to try and tell us what we've heard about Chandana is a lie? You promised to tell us the truth, don't go back on that now."

Another Doctor continued, "And even if by some miracle he is still alive, we saw what happened on Eden Prime, the Citadel, all the Human colonies. No way we're going to subject our families to that kind of risk."

She put her hands behind her back standing tall, "Your right, I did promise you the truth so here we go. Yes, Chandana was killed in the remains of Sovereign and his team were transformed into monsters. Yes, the same could happen to us if we aren't careful.. In fact, it could happen to every being you've ever met because yes, the Reapers are coming as we speak." She let a pause hang in the air, "That's why we have to try and do something. The Alliance is too busy in their obsession with the Terminus Systems too care. The Council is content with burying it's head in the sand until it's too late.. And Lazarus is only focused on killing everyone in this room. If we don't do something, who will?"

One of the Doctor's wives glared at her, "We didn't follow you because we wanted to make a difference in the galaxy, we did it because you offered us safety."

Miranda tried not to grit her teeth from annoyance, "And I am still keeping my word, as long as we research whatever the Shadow Broker gives us we'll be safe. However, as soon as the Reapers arrive nowhere will be safe, not unless we stop them. Think about our standing in the galaxy after the war if we're part of the solution and not the problem?"

Archer countered, "The rewards won't be worth it if we're all dead, and we can't experience them. I say we take a vote on this right now."

She was growing frustrated with their reluctance to taking this risk. She wasn't putting her own family members in harms way so, maybe it was easier for her to see the bigger picture here. Why didn't they understand that it wouldn't matter where they went once the Reapers arrived? It seemed as though despite having PhD's in a variety of subjects, they couldn't comprehend the fact that everywhere in the galaxy was going to be like Eden Prime or the Citadel in just a few weeks time. How was she supposed to get through that kind of stubborn denial? Now she was coming to the realization that she should've focused on the more tangible threat Leng posed to them right now if they left. Telling them that now though would make it seem like she was wishy washy and couldn't decide what the biggest danger to their safety was. A part of her wished Shepard was here right now, even though she often disagreed with his priorities, he still could give a good motivational speech.

Kelly, one of her advisors, pointed out the window behind her, "Ma'am, I think I just saw Saren Arterius rushing by with a cryo pod.."

Miranda turned around quickly to look out only to see Legion hurrying down the hall following a trail of cryo fluid. Why was he in such a hurry? And why was the pod Saren was apparently dragging leaking enough fluid to make the floor shine? She should stay here and try to convince everyone more that following the Shadow Brokers commands was the only way they were going to have a chance at survival, at least right now. At the same time though, if that cryo pod had their test subject inside she needed to secure it as soon as possible for repairs. What if the science team left while she was getting information? It definitely was a risk but, she had to take it in the hopes that the Shadow Brokers security team would detain them before they had the opportunity to find a Kodiak shuttle.

She took a deep breath making up her mind, "Your right Archer, I shouldn't make this kind of decision on my own. Kelly, I want you to organize a vote while I'm gone. When I get back we'll decide how we're going to proceed. I just want to remind everyone that hiding from Leng will be almost impossible without some kind of outside support and we don't have very many friends left."

Without another word, Miranda rushed out of the room trusting Kelly to handle the voting fairly. She had to figure out what was going on to determine what her own next steps would be.

_o0o_

Humanity had it's problems; racism, ignorance, self righteous importance, and a general lack of empathy to others around them. In this moment, Saren was glad at the very least they were good at preparing for any dangerous situation. Even though they were inside a civilian shuttle, he still found a first aid kit for his hand, or what was left of it anyway. He understood Garrus' knee jerk reaction to him firing at Kal, he was never good at seeing the big picture. If he had turned on Morinth in that room, she would have killed all of them and then they wouldn't have been able to make any deals with the Shadow Broker. Saren just wished Garrus had been paying attention to the fact that he was intentionally missing Kal. If he had truly wanted to kill the Quarian, he wouldn't have tried to telegraph the move to everyone in the room. Maybe Garrus hadn't completely let go of his fear towards him from what happened two years ago despite their conversations on the Normandy. That just made it more important for him to succeed this time.

He growled deeply while spreading medi-gel on the stump to his hand. Explosive rounds were good at leaving permanent damage and he didn't have time to get a replacement hand right now. The application of the gel was messy since he had lost his left hand, he wished Nihlus was here. The Turian would've nursed him back to health and probably would've had make up sex with him. The Geth was his next best option for a clean application but, it was powered down to allow both personalities freedom once again now that the fighting was over. Hopefully Rael wouldn't remember what happened so Saren wouldn't have to deal with arguing over the morals of what he had done. Legion might not be the most intellectually stimulating conversationalist anymore with only one logic core but, he understood that the Reapers had to be stopped at all costs. Even if that meant sacrificing relationships to get it done.

Rael's green optical sensor looked at him a few minutes later, "What happened to that Human you shot?"

Saren turned his attention to flying the shuttle into the gas giant, "You mean the annoying distraction to our mission? I'm not sure we left after I shot him.."

Rael had a suspicious tone, "And where's Garrus? Was he an annoying distraction to the mission as well?"

Saren sighed showing the stump where his left hand should've been, "Garrus and I had a disagreement over the best way to go about the job and we got separated. He's safe with Shepard now, though they're probably sharing a prison sentence in an Alliance facility over their work with Cerberus."

Rael's tone was meant to make him think, "And that doesn't upset you at all? The idea that the only way you can settle disagreements with your brother is through violence?"

Saren ignored the question, of course a part of him was upset. He practically raised Garrus from the day he was born so, Garrus should automatically trust him to make the right decision for the both of their safety. Unfortunately, he could already hear Garrus saying that kind of thinking led him to working with Sovereign in the first place. While Saren couldn't argue with that, he wished Garrus would see that decision was what he regretted more than anything else in his life and he wasn't going to do it again. He could've certainly emoted more but, Saren felt like showing too much emotion was a sign of weakness. And in the past, being stoic had allowed him to hide from Garrus his many breakups and reunions with Nihlus. Getting the Reaper code and helping to stop their invasion was going to be the only way he could really atone for all his actions.

Legion answered for him, "The situation required sacrifices for us to be able to continue our objective. It is impossible to criticize Saren's methods without having been present yourself."

Rael responded sounding irritated, "I would have been present if you hadn't taken over my motor functions."

Legion's metal flaps bent down to signal he was angry, "You were the one to open that possibility when you took matters into your own hands to remove Saren's control chip."

Rael's voice grew louder in frustration, "Where would we be if I didn't do that Legion? A Cerberus lab? Maybe killed by the Collectors. Either way, I made the right choice and you know it."

Legion was about to shout back when Saren raised a hand, "Both of you shut up, I hear something.."

Drip, drip, drip, what was that? At first, he looked down at his hand thinking maybe some of the medi-gel hadn't sealed properly on the stump causing blood to drip. Remarkably, while it wouldn't win any awards for looking pretty in some medical journal, the wound was sealed and dry. His next fear was a section of the Kodiak's engine was ripped off in the turbulence outside. The gas giants winds were strong enough to do that to a civilian ship not prepared for that sort of thing. Since no alarms were going off in the cockpit that meant it was something inside the ship not connected to it's systems. Legion was the next best candidate but, he didn't see anything and he didn't remember the Geth taking any fire on Illium. That thought made him think about the brief exchange with Shepard. Oh no, the Alliance soldier had shot at the cryo pod.

To confirm his worst fear, Rael moved to the back of the pod, "Keelah, that has to be half of the coolant and the temperature is rising. Whoever is in here is going to wake up any minute now no matter what I do."

Indoctrination had taken years for him to fully succumb to so, he shouldn't necessarily worry. It wasn't likely that whoever was inside that pod was the same killing machine he was by the time Eden Prime rolled around. Still, the Shadow Broker intended for an Ardat-Yakshi to transport this thing in a cryo pod for a reason. Saren would like to think the Broker was just taking extra precautions for his own safety having seen what Saren could do at the height of his power. He couldn't help but worry about the immediate threat of an indoctrinated being waking up in the small quarters of a Kodiak shuttle. Even if he was at full strength himself, there was no way he could kill an agent for the Reapers without utterly destroying the room around them. Killing one indoctrinated agent wasn't going to be enough to stop the Reapers, he needed to pass this problem off before they woke up in his lap.

He sped the ship towards the Shadow Broker's hangar ignoring the risk to the hull, "Legion keep an eye on that pod. If it starts to open I want you to empty a clip in there to make sure nothing comes out, understood?"

Rael hesitated trying to be the voice of reason, "We don't even know what stage of indoctrination the person inside this pod is in. What if we could convince them to go to another pod and freeze them until we can cure them."

Saren glared back in his direction, "Do you really want to take that risk when we are this close to getting to the Processing Hub? It'll be better for their memory if we kill them when they wake up instead of letting them ruin their own legacy, trust me."

With that argument out of the way, Saren landed the shuttle with a speedy thud. Not waiting to see if they had hit any of the other ships in the hangar, he opened the shuttle door and started pushing the cryo pod out. The sooner he could make this delivery, the sooner they could be on their way to the Perseus Veil and this being waking up not becoming his problem. He ran past a room full of Humans sitting on the floor which he thought was odd but he kept going towards the Shadow Broker's office. His mind was telling him to slow down, that this had to appear extremely suspicious but, right now he just kept moving. All he needed was the coordinates to the hub, and he needed them before all out hell broke loose inside the ship.

A Salarian guard halted them at the door to the office, "The Shadow Broker was expecting Morinth to be with you for the drop off. Where is she?"

Saren knew it was pointless to lie to the man that knew everything already, "We ran into complications and I left her behind to ensure the Broker received the package."

The Salarian chuckled seemingly amused by what he said, "You might have made the wrong call with that one. I'll let you through. Have fun dealing with him when he's angry."

Saren prepared himself for a fight in more ways than one when the door opened. He was immediately struck by the sheer amount of data flowing up and down the back wall of the room, behind the massive Yahg. His eight yellow eyes were staring at the two of them as though they were children entering a candy store. The data the Broker collected by the minute was worth hundreds of thousands of credits so it was only natural to assume someone would try to take that for themselves. In another life Saren may have considered taking him down if the Council ordered him to do so, his SPECTRE days were long ago though. Now, all he wanted was the coordinates for the Geth Hub and then he would be leaving.

The Shadow Broker slowly got up to his feet from behind his large desk, "I seem to recall asking three individuals to deliver this package to me and I am only seeing two in front of me. Would you like to explain yourself Saren?"

Saren wasn't intimidated despite the menacing tone, "I'm sure you've already seen the recording of what happened. What you should be caring about is the fact that I was able to get this thing here at all. Cerberus were down my throat with that bombing and if it wasn't for Shepard I wouldn't be standing here right now."

Miranda's voice came from behind them, "Every member of Cerberus alive is on this ship. Whatever you encountered had to be Lazarus. Now, do any of you want to explain to me why this cryo pod has a trail of coolant from all the way back in the hangar?"

He wanted to strangle her, or maybe just hit her over the head. The success chances of getting the coordinates from the Broker hinged on him not knowing the being inside was going to wake up until they were long gone. Not only had Saren failed to bring Morinth here but, he had also failed to bring the package here in one piece. He hadn't wanted to fight for the data before because of his condition and now his desire was even less because of the fact that the Broker was a Yahg. With the information out in the open though, Saren didn't see another way to get what they needed peacefully. Maybe Lawson would help him, they made a good biotic team on Sovereign and she didn't seem to like the Broker if her tone was anything to go by. How would he even communicate that kind of offer when the Broker was standing right here?

Not having much of a filter anymore, Legion answered with, "When the Alliance engaged us a stray bullet must've punctured the coolant line. At the current rate of temperature increase, the subject should be awake at any moment."

Saren tried to brush the comment aside, "The important thing is you have your package and you have time to put them in another pod. I lived up to my end of the bargain, it's time for you to do the same."

The Shadow Broker grabbed something from under the desk, "You cheat me out of my best defense AND time to think of something else? Then you have the nerve to expect your payment? I will make sure you will die here and now."

Miranda moved to grab the back of the pod, "We can talk about payments and retribution later. Right now we need to take this pod to the nearest airlock and shoot it out to the gas giant's atmosphere. We can't risk having a living breathing indoctrinated person on this ship."

The Broker revealed he was holding a gun usually attached to fighter craft when he pointed it at Miranda, "You will take that pod back to your lab immediately. You are just going to have to deal with a live test subject until I can acquire another pod."

To her credit, Miranda just started moving the pod, "Working with another version of an indoctrinated Saren is suicide for every person on this ship. Your just going to have to shoot me if you think that's the best option for your survival."

The Shadow Broker's voice was cracking, almost as if he was in a panic, "Studying indoctrination is life and death! You will follow my command or I will kill all of your people!"

Saren reached around to grab his pistol while raising a browplate, "Life and death for who exactly? Forgive me but, I can't help but notice this seems to be awfully personal for you."

He was prepared for the shooting to start when the entire ship shook as Miranda was just reaching the door. His hope was that it was merely a strong gust of wind from the gas giant but it happened again a few seconds later. This time the lights flickered on and off in the office as well. Why would they possibly be losing power when this ship was supposedly collecting energy from the wind around them? After a third booming shake that almost sent him off of his feet, Saren knew the answer was clear, they were under attack. Wasn't the ship invisible to sensor systems because it was in the storm? Either the Broker had a mole or someone had used a tracker to get here. He glanced at the cryo pod having a feeling he knew where the tracker came from.

The Shadow Broker dropped his weapon to tap his omni tool, "Glyph, I need a status report now."

A synthetic voice floated into the room, "It appears as though the Normandy has found us, and is opening fire on our shields."

The Broker groaned in anger towards himself, "I shouldn't have trusted Leng to honor our deal. Seal all entrances and bunker down while we charge the main canon." He looked back up towards the three of them, "We are going to have to put this discussion on hold while I deal with the defense of my ship."

Saren shook his head and drew his pistol in his right hand, "I'm not going anywhere without those coordinates. Give them to me now."

The Yahg was about to speak when a gasp from behind him made his stomach flip inside out, "Huh... Huh.. Where..? Where am I?"

Saren carefully turned around to see a Drell had emerged from the pod. The same Drell he had worked with on the Normandy, Feron. This was going to complicate things considerably.


	10. Chapter 9: Breaking and Entering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoils Of War, Pt.1 - Ramin Djawadi

Jack was used to seeing the Normandy in the skies during his missions as a savior and protector. From Therum all the way to the Omega-4 Relay, the Normandy had saved his life more times than he could count. Unfortunately, it was time for him to readjust how he viewed the ship now that it was shooting at him and the Shadow Brokers ship. He knew this was a possibility when he chose to side with Victus instead of The Illusive Man but, he didn't think the consequences would hit him quite this soon. If Joker was at the helm, Jack wouldn't have been as worried about their chances as he was right now with Griff piloting the ship. Under the pressure of getting shot down by the Normandy's Thanix cannon, the Batarian appeared as though he had forgotten how to fly the shuttle. Maybe Liara would've been a better choice to fly but, it was a little late to make a change right now.

Griff grunted with frustration, gripping the controls with both hands, "I thought that the Normandy took a beating in the final fight with the Collectors? How the hell is it zipping around in the storm like this?"

It was a good question and Jack didn't know the answer. Not only had the Normandy's stealth drive been damaged in the Collector dreadnought attack but, the hull had also taken a beating during the suicide mission. If the Normandy had been in the hands of Quarian engineers, he could potentially acknowledge the possibility of the repairs getting finished within a month. However, as far as he knew Lazarus obtained control of the Normandy through Kai Leng during their escape from the Collector Satellite. Jack didn't know which answer was the more troubling one; Lazarus had engineers that could match the average Quarian in skill, or, Lazarus was able to build another version of the Normandy within a months time frame. Cerberus had built the SR2 after all and thus had to have it's blueprints on file somewhere. What was stopping them from building an army of Normandy's to fight the Alliance? No matter where the ship came from, it was better if Griff focused on their survival instead of the Normandy's origin.

He was about to say as much when Liara answered for him, "Cerberus stole the Alliance's state of the art Lunar shipyard system two years ago. It would be foolish not to assume they weren't going to use it in that time."

Griff pulled a lever to punch up the speed to dangerous levels obviously hoping to beat the Normandy to the Shadow Broker's hangar, "Well, it won't matter when we're inside the safety of the Prothean shield. Hang on everybody, this is gonna get rough.."

Jack glanced through the cockpit viewport to see the hangar door was already closing rather quickly, "Are you sure we're even going to make it inside?!"

The Batarian had a confused tone to his voice, "What?" His tone changed when he saw the door, "Oh shit!"

Realizing they weren't going to make it inside the Shadow Broker's ship before the hangar door closed, Griff was forced to pull up away from it. They were sitting ducks right now trapped out here between a hostile Normandy and the winds of the gas giant. Even if they were in a gunship or fighter, Jack would've been seriously concerned about their odds of survival. They were in a Kodiak shuttle equipped with Claymore shotguns to clear a landing zone of infantry, not pierce ship hull. He was tempted to take control of the ship himself, at least he would be in control of their own fate. That would almost guarantee death though since switching pilots in the middle of a battle could lead to a deadly mistake.

Garrus was trying to look out the door window of the Kodiak to try and see if he could find the Normandy, "Open the shuttle door, I'll try to snipe the pilot to give us a breather."

Griff shook his head, "Are you crazy? This shuttle doesn't have a drive core so the moment I open the door we'd all get sucked outside because of the wind. I don't think your sniper rifle would be able to get past their shields anyways."

Garrus motioned towards the Normandy which was coming around for another pass, "Yeah, you might be right... I just don't see any other way to get out of this in one piece."

Griff tapped a few buttons and started turning the Kodiak to face the Normandy, "Don't worry, I have a plan to get him off our ass. Your just going to have to trust me."

Kal gripped his seat tighter not liking the feeling of where this was going, "You haven't even told us why we're here, not really. How are we supposed to trust you with anything?!"

Griff shrugged giving them an anxious yet toothy grin, "I guess you have a good point... Maybe just trust in the fact that I'd die too if this goes wrong?"

Jack's eyes were widening upon seeing at least the beginnings of what Griff was trying to do, they were headed straight for the Normandy's guns. It was usually suicide to play a game of chicken with a fully armed warship but, what else were they going to do? The safest option was to leave and contact the Alliance for reinforcements. However, by the time the Alliance would be bothered to come get him, Lazarus would take over the Shadow Broker's ship and any chance of finding Feron alive were slim to none. Then there deal with President Doalia would be over and they could add a charge of resisting arrest a second time to their list of growing crimes. The way he saw it, they were better off dying in an explosion rather than spending the rest of their lives in an Alliance prison. Kal took his hand and squeezed it to brace for the inevitable impact.

The Thanix cannon missed it's first two shots not used to firing at something so close to them. At the literal last possible second, Griff shoved the joystick forward dipping the Kodiak so the viewport wasn't looking directly into the barrel of the cannon. The problem was that since he performed the maneuver so late, the Kodiak's engine fins smashed into the cannon. In retrospect, it was a brilliant move worthy of something Joker might have suggested in the heat of the moment, the Normandy just lost it's firepower. The trade off though was that they had no engines and were spiraling out of control towards the hull of the Shadow Broker's ship. Just the lack of engines alone was enough to be a death sentence on Earth but, they were in the middle of a gas giant. Strong winds whipped them about in unatural angles and Jack had to cling to his seat belt to keep him from becoming a bouncy ball off of the hull. When Jack caught a glimpse of the viewport, he assumed that the Kodiak was within seven hundred meters of the ship's exterior.

At six hundred meters, the decent became less wild and they were merely spinning towards the front of the Shadow Broker's ship. Just like the Collectors Satellite and Sovereign before it, this ship must've had the same shielding technology to create an envelope around them to protect from the elements. He had no idea what that discovery said about what technology the Shadow Broker was comfortable playing with but, it was probably going to save their lives right now. The Kodiak miraculously landed flat against the top of the larger ship and started skidding across it. Jack was worrying that they were quickly going to run out of room to slide across the top of the ship when what seemed to be a solar panel jutted out from the interior stopping them.

Griff immediately started removing his seat belt, "We aren't safe inside of this ship, everybody move!"

Jack lifted a hand to stop him, "Hey wait a minute, some of us don't have armor by the way. How are we supposed to breath out there?"

Griff whipped past them and opened a storage container in the back of the ship before tossing a Cerberus branded helmet to him, Liara, and Thane while putting another one on himself. "It won't help you against the cold so you'll be freezing your balls off but, you'll be able to breath at least."

He gave a worried expression towards Thane, "You gonna be ok out there?"

The Drell gave a polite nod and stood calmly at the door looking silly with a Human helmet on, "I appreciate the concern but I feel fine Shepard, truly. Even if I was still afflicted with Kepral's I would do worse in wet climates, not cold ones. I'm more fearful over what has become of my son."

Garrus started to stand by the door as well and yet he had a skeptical look on his face, "What happens if the Broker's ship tilts itself at all? Won't we just slide off of the side?"

Liara shook her head quickly and opened the door, "We'll be fine, those capacitors that stopped our slide discharge built-up lightning. We have to get out now!"

Jack trusted Liara to know what she was talking about and the six of them scrambled out of the Kodiak as fast as they could. Sure enough, as soon as they got just a few feet away from the crash, a lightning strike hit the capacitor and the Kodiak exploded since the ship was in such close proximity to it. Jack had occasionally walked on the top of the Everest early on in his career but, it was always stationed on a planet. Walking on top of the hull of a ship in atmo during the middle of a battle wasn't the same thing. How was he going to do something good for Miranda when they had no way to escape and more importantly, no way to actually get inside? At least the Normandy was nowhere to be seen, he had no doubt that if Kai Leng was a part of whatever was going on here, he would sacrifice the Normandy just to make sure they died in a ram.

Garrus looked around clearly fearful of the same thing, "Any idea how we're going to get inside? I don't know about anyone else but, I don't want to tumble around forever in the middle of a gas giant as soon as we lose shields."

Griff looked around with a frown on his face, "There has to be an entrance somewhere so his Salarian crew could perform repairs. I just haven't been here long enough to get a good look as to where those might be from the outside."

Jack gave him a curious tilt of his head, "How long have you and Miranda been here exactly Griff?"

The Batarian gave a noncommittal shrug, "Long enough for us to know we needed to risk going to the Alliance for help to get out."

Liara filled the silence while glancing at her omni tool, "It’s hard to pinpoint an exact location in this lightning, but I’m picking up signals from a communications array near the back of the ship. That would definitely have an entrance near it for repairs."

Jack sighed realizing they were on the front of the ship that was at least 600 meters in length, "It never can be easy..alright we better get moving now then."

Kal gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder as they started moving, "The exercise will be good for us both after sitting for a few weeks in a jail cell. Think of it like it's the most dangerous marathon we ever have to be a part of."

Jack made sure that the others were following him before starting to move across the surface of the ship as quickly as he could. He was especially worried about Thane wondering if only getting his air supply from his helmet would effect his Kepral's. To his amazement, the Drell appeared as though he was holding back just so he wouldn't get too far ahead of them which Jack appreciated. Looking at a ship of this size from far away made it seem like it was incredibly smooth but, they were having to struggle over each exposed bulkhead layer and fuel line just to get a few feet. If they jumped too high or ran too fast, Jack was afraid they would lose their protection from the ship's drive core envelope and float endlessly in the atmosphere of the gas giant. That fear made traveling towards the back of the ship a painfully slow process however, it was far better than the alternative to him.

The roar of the Normandy's engines zipping by directly above him made Jack's stomach crawl. The Normandy flipped around past them going past the front of the ship so it could make another pass at them in a few seconds. Just as he started to turn his head back around to see where he was going, the ground beneath his feet started to shake and Kal reached out to grab him out of instinct. A moment later, several large, green, and glowing missiles shot out of the Shadow Broker's ship and headed towards the Normandy at top speed. He could tell that the Normandy was faster as it rolled around the missile with ease. Unfortunately, the problem was that the missile was heat seaking and thus turned around to follow it again. When he saw the Normandy was coming straight at them, he knew they had to get out of the way.

His voice would have been loud and booming even though everyone would be able to hear him in their own helmet comms, "Run! Run! Run!"

With no regard for his earlier concern of falling off, Jack ran as fast as he could looking for something he could take cover behind. He wasn't necessarily concerned about being vaporized by the missle because of the shields, his concern was what was going to happen to the area around the shields if the missile hit next to them. If a traditional shield on an Alliance ship was hit, the immediate area around the impact would ripple for a few seconds and lose power until the drive core could compensate for the loss. In a normal space battle that design flaw wasn't as crippling a blow as you might think because the compensation rate was usually faster than a mass driver cannon could fire. Even though they were dealing with a potentially Prothean ship with advanced technology, it was about to be hit with it's own weapon system and so it was safe to assume traditional rules of space combat applied. Jack knew that if they were in the area of the ripple, they would be exposed to the high winds of the gas giant and blown who knows where before the drive core could readjust if they didn't grab on to anything.

Jack and Garrus got separated from the others choosing to hide behind another capacitor when the Normandy pitched upward at the last moment making the missile hit the shield. The Shadow Broker's ship shook violently even dipping to the side and Jack could feel his feet starting to slip. The only thing keeping him on the ship was ironically the wind. It's full blast was knocking him backwards into the offline capacitor he had been hiding behind a minute earlier. Without his Onyx or palladium armor the pain and pressure to his ribs was intense, luckily he had suffered through stereotypical astronaut training when he joined the Alliance so, he wasn't going to pass out immediately. All he had to do was stay calm and he would probably be fine by the time the drive core came back online.

All that training went out the window when he saw Kal start to fly by him, obviously having found nothing to grab in time. He couldn't move no matter how desperately he wanted to because of the wind thinking this might be the last time he saw his husband alive. The panic inside of him was going to make his heart burst from his chest and then to make matters worse, Garrus jumped after him in the hopes of catching him. Jack had forgotten in the heat of the moment that Garrus didn't have his weapons and armor confiscated by the Alliance, so he was stunned when the Turian used the jetpacks on his feet to catch Kal before he got too far away in mid air. Garrus then used the blades on his wrist armor to snag them both on the edge of the ship. His first consideration was to jump after them but, by the time he was able to do it, the shield was coming back online and the wind disappeared.

Garrus had a joking tone to his voice as the two of them dangled on the side of the ship, "Not even a guardrail.... I'm sure the Broker’s agents just love patrolling the hull."

Liara used her biotics to lift them back to stable ground, "Let's just hope he doesn't decide to do that again while we're outside. I don't think I can take being in the middle of that kind of windstorm again."

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Jack was wrapping his arms around Kal in a panicked hug, "Don't you dare do that again, your going to give me a heart attack with those kinds of stunts."

Kal chuckled pressing their helmet's together in his best attempt at a kiss in the moment, "Now you know how I feel whenever you go on a mission without me. And hey, I wouldn't have fallen that far.." They both glanced over the side of the ship to the sight of endless clouds, "Okay. Looking down was clearly a mistake, the important part is I'm safe."

Griff cleared his throat glancing around the area, "I know what happens to Batarians that try to separate you two but, the Normandy is going to come back any minute to try and stop us and we still have a long way to go."

Kal nodded and pulled away from him, "From what I could tell, it looks like Griff's maneuver made a big enough hole in the Normandy for people to fit through. Liara, I want you to toss me into the ship and I'll take it over."

The relief of seeing Kal safe and sound on the ground disappeared the second that he made that suggestion. It definitely wasn't that he thought Liara wasn't capable of such a feat, in fact she had done so multiple times on Feros, even over Kal's protests. He was far more worried about Kal fighting on the Normandy which was full of Lazarus crew members. Once he was up there, he wasn't going to have any backup if the situation got worse. What was stopping the pilot from taking the ship back to their base effectively kidnapping Kal? An even worse possibility was that Kai Leng was on the ship just waiting for one of them to be bold or wreckless enough to attack them. Jack had a lot of faith in Kal's ability to fight but, after their confrontation on the Collector Satellite, he was convinced they were going to have to work together if they were going to kill him once and for all.

Liara raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? I seem to remember you weren't exactly a fan of being thrown around biotically last time."

Kal was looking more at Jack then Liara, "We're going to need a way to get out of here and I don't think the Shadow Broker is going to give us a shuttle that will fit everyone. Plus, maybe the Alliance will forgive us for leaving their custody if we steal back the only stealth ship in the galaxy."

Garrus folded his arms over his chest speaking for him, "Do you even know how to fly the ship? You couldn't even get transports to drive right on Omega."

Kal shook his head and stared at the Normandy which was rapidly approaching, "Your right I don't, which is why I need a volunteer to go with me on this stupid adventure."

Griff sighed knowing he was the odd man out, "Fine, do whatever you need to just, let's go quickly. The Normandy is coming in for another pass fast."

Jack watched as the two of them started to be wrapped up in Liara's biotic energy, "I love you, and be careful.. We have a promise to your Mom to keep, remember?"

Kal smiled under the helmet and was bracing himself for a launch, "We have a couple of promises to keep as I recall. I'll see you in a few minutes and we can see what kind of damage Leng did to our room."

He watched trying to hide the horror in his eyes as Liara tossed Kal and Griff up into the Normandy where the Thanix cannon used to be. The ship didn't immediately bolt away out of the planets atmosphere so that meant the pilot hadn't noticed their little trick or just didn't care about it. If the Normandy had a full crew they were dealing with a hundred people against two. It was odds that would make anyone sweat but, Kal was a good soldier and Batarians were known for their combat abilities. If they were quick and careful, they could potentially make it to the cockpit and take over the ship without anyone else noticing until it was too late and the rest of them were on board. At least, that was what Jack was telling himself so he didn't keep worrying about his husband and focus on getting inside the ship he was currently standing on.

Liara gazed at the engine fins ahead of them with some fear in her eyes that he could see through the helmet's visor after years of staring at Kal to see his emotions, "Navigating this storm is brutal on a normal day. Add in the fact that we're in the middle of a battle and it has to be a nightmare for the crew. If the ship’s engines stop even for a moment... Well, at least the Shadow Broker would go down with us."

Thane kept marching forward as if Liara didn't just imply they could die any minute now, "Do not be afraid of death, the place beyond the sea is very beautiful and will comfort your every need."

Jack grimaced climbing over a fuel line so that he could keep moving, "While that’s oddly comforting you two, I'm not ready to go beyond the sea just yet. Let's hustle people, we have to get inside as soon as possible."

It took probably ten more minutes of carefully walking on top of the Shadow Broker's ship until he could finally see the communications array. The array itself was a stereotypical tower with multiple radar dishes coming off each side and were currently spinning like a top. If Jack had to guess, he'd assume that the Shadow Broker was inside right now desperately trying to get the Normandy on sensors so he could fire on it again. He knew the Normandy well enough to know that the effort was pointless but, the Shadow Broker surely felt like he was stuck in a difficult situation with no way out. Glancing at the bottom of the tower Jack let out a sigh of relief when he saw a door seemingly waiting for them, Liara had been right. To be clear, he knew they weren't out of danger as long as they were in the atmosphere of the gas giant but, being inside the ship was a massive improvement to their chances of survival.

Before they could get to the door, the Normandy zipped around the back of the engine fins until it was hovering above the array directly in front of them. Once again he was now thankful for Griff's wild maneuver to get them here since the Normandy surely would've melted them to dust if they still had the Thanix cannon. However, Jack's anxiety started to bubble up to the surface when the cargo hold door opened, his mind racing. Had Kal been caught already? Was Lazarus going to negotiate a release if he had been caught or, just kill him in front of Jack to make a point? Should he have argued with Kal about how foolish of a plan that was instead of just letting him go do it? His fear merely turned into disgust instead of horror when he saw Kai Leng as well as several other Phantom Knights drop out of the cargo hold blocking their way to get inside through the comms array.

Leng's helmet sweeped over the group of them with a tilt of his head, "You really broke off your relationship with the Quarian just because he saved a little girl instead of stopping your precious Reapers? It's what I would do but for you that seems awfully cold."

Jack was about to deny the accusation and point out Leng had more to do with the Reapers imminent return than Kal, he stopped himself though. It would be better for Kal's chances of taking back the Normandy if Lazarus assumed the relationship was over and he was nowhere near here. The curious thing though was that The Illusive Man and by extension Leng should know better than to assume a break up was the reason for Kal's absence. One of the first things he had asked The Illusive Man was where 'his team,' translation Kal, was after two years of sleeping in a cryo pod. The commitment between them was solid and someone as smart as Cerberus' leader would know this on a normal day. Maybe he was losing his edge, or maybe Leng wasn't listening to him anymore and Lazarus was just his doing.

He was glad his own helmet was on so he could better lie, "Someone that can't put aside one life for trillions doesn't belong anywhere near me."

Even through the helmet, he could hear Leng's amused tone. "Honestly rather ironic coming from you but, you were always a bit of a hypocrite. Now, if you'll excuse me I have some traitors I need to exterminate."

For some reason he felt like he needed to buy them more time, "Leng, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye but, let me talk to The Illusive Man. With the Reapers on their way we need to put our petty differences aside for the sake of Humanity. We worked well together to stop the Collectors."

Leng lifted his sword to point it at him, "You made it quite clear how you view our methods in your last conversation with The Illusive Man and we appreciate everything you've done for us. Truly, Lazarus thanks you for your servi-"

A biotic blast was starting to come out of the sword but, Liara and Thane caught the shockwave with their own biotics and sent it flying back in his direction. Jack couldn't help but smile when Leng flew through the communications array door with a sickening crash. He was about to charge into the Phantoms to get to Leng when unfortunately, another emergency door sealed shut separating them with Leng now inside. Without their leader, the Phantoms appeared to be considering trying to get back on the Normandy. They never had the chance though because the cargo hold door was suddenly closing and the ship was leaving the area. From the way the ship had an odd tilt to it, Jack could tell the pilot at the helm wasn't as skilled as before, probably meaning Kal and Griff had taken control.

Jack had a confident tone as he stared down the Phantoms, "I'd surrender now if I were you. Me and my friends here have killed countless buddies of yours on Luna and Illium."

They disappeared all at once and Garrus just sighed, "You just had to say something snarky didn't you...? Liara on your left!"

She barely avoided a nearly invisible sword strike to her waist and Jack started vaguely shooting in that vague direction, "Tell me you have a plan to get us inside Liara."

Liara sent another biotic blast towards the door but it wouldn't move this time, "The emergency door must be magnetically sealed, it won't open. Hang on, I’ve got a bypass shunt program that can crack it."

Garrus interrupted them with another shout, "Thane, behind you!"

The Drell immediately dropped to one knee before sending a kick spinning behind him in a wide arc. He obviously felt contact with something because he leapt forward to grab at a sword now floating in the air. Without pointing out another target, Thane threw the sword in a ninety degree angle only for it to miraculously puncture the helmet of another Phantom. It was truly a magnificent sight to watch a Drell assassin in his prime get to work even against invisible enemies. A part of him had wished he had told Mordin to make it a priority to cure Kepral's a long time ago. Thane operating at this level would've been extremely useful who knows how many times against the Collectors. Jack couldn't keep watching though, without armor a single lucky strike from a Phantom could prove fatal if he wasn't paying attention.

He looked over at Liara tapping away on her omni tool, "How long do you think it will take exactly? We're kind of pressed for time here."

Liara's tone was a little frustrated trying to ignore him a little, "I don’t know, Jack. I'm not Kasumi Goto, I’ve never broken into the Shadow Broker’s base before. Well, not this one, anyway. It’s illegal even on Illium which you'd think means it's effective. That's until you discover it didn’t come with a warranty."

Jack gave her a weary glare before firing at a few Phantoms harassing Garrus, "But you tested it, right?"

Liara had an evasive tone, "Look out, here come more of them!"

Jack used the body of a Phantom as a shield for protection while trying to shoot at another, "I really don't like that tone Liara. Reminds me of the time you lied and said you knew how to use a gun."

Liara rolled her eyes blasting yet another Phantom away from her with biotics, "I didn't lie, I just never answered you either way. Besides, I’m sure it won’t be much longer!"

Jack tried not to laugh before tossing the dead Phantom he had been using as a shield into another who was fighting with Thane, "Fair enough I guess. Remember the old days when you could just slap omni-gel on everything and it would open? I'm missing that right about now."

Liara turned her attention back to the door, "That security upgrade certainly made a lot of people unhappy. Their attacks are disorganized. They’d be more effective if they all attacked at once."

Jack sighed reloading the gun he had in his hand sounding exhausted, "Please don’t give the invisible assassins any ideas Liara. They have the killing thing down on their own."

He had a feeling this was going to be a long fight. And it was only going to get worse once whenever they finally managed to get inside.


	11. Chapter 10: First Strike

Kal hated being tossed around with biotics for one very good reason, the landings were always awful. He had nothing against Liara and he was sure she did everything she could to slow down his impact but, he still hit the ceiling of the Normandy's weapon room with a thud. Griff didn't do much better, smacking a part of the now destroyed Thanix cannon before flopping on the ground with a groan. His concern of not knowing enough about the kid was still present, especially after he made a comment about knowing what happened to Batarian's that got in the middle of his and Jack's relationship but, he needed a pilot. Most Quarians had basic flight training when they were in school to prepare for their pilgrimage, Kal was too busy getting injected with whatever virus his dad had come up with at the time to be able to attend.

Griff grunted, struggling to get to his feet a few seconds after him, "Remind me to never volunteer to go on a suicidal mission with you ever again. Might not be so lucky next time and have my spine turn to mush."

Kal decided to whisper as they got closer to the weapons battery door into the mess hall, "After flying the shuttle into the Normandy like it was a missile, I can't help but wonder if you have a death wish all on your own. Here's the pla-"

A voice from the other side of the door interrupted him, "I can't believe we're going to be stuck in here trying to do repairs on a gun we know is busted while Leng gets to go gut the traitor."

Kal pushed Griff into a shadowy corner of the room as the door opened and another voice replied, "Whether we were there or not you do know Leng is going to be the one to get the kill right?"

He had definitely guessed that they were going to have to deal with members of the now hostile Normandy crew, Kal had just hoped it wouldn't have been immediately. Given the size of the SR2, they were probably surrounded by a good hundred employees working for Kai Leng against the two of them. The only way he saw this plan actually working was if they had been able to sneak their way to the cockpit without anyone noticing and then opening up all the airlocks to expose the crew to the gas giant's atmosphere. It was a rather cruel way to get rid of that many people but, Kal didn't see another way to take over the ship. No matter how diplomatic he was, this branch of Cerberus was headed by Leng, the assassin couldn't be negotiated with.

Maybe they could still salvage his plan if he could just sneak around these two engineers? They were far too busy arguing over whose fault it was as to why the Kodiak shuttle succeeded and why Leng hated Miranda so much. If Jack wasn't so vulnerable to the Normandy below them, he might've stayed in the shadows to try and get valuable information out of them. As things stand though, his cyar'ika was in danger of becoming ash against the Normandy's viewport any minute now so they needed to get moving. Kal slowly started making his way to the door thinking the Batarian was following him, only to realize he wasn't. Griff was holding the back of his pistol like a club attempting to get behind one of the engineers. He tried to signal Griff to stop but the Batarian seemingly ignored him. It was a reminder that most Batarians weren't like Erash and let their hatred towards Humanity cloud their judgement.

Kal was about to make a move on the engineer closest to him feeling as though he was forced to follow suit when Griff acted without him. Was he trying to get them both killed right now? Maybe Miranda shouldn't of trusted this Batarian for help at all if his instincts to help her involved breaking their cover at his first opportunity. It wouldn't be the first time Miranda chose to work with someone in Cerberus that didn't have her best interest at heart. What made things even worse was the fact that Griff missed the head he had been going for. His eyes could only watch in horror as the gun flew over the engineers head and landed on the table right next to him.

The engineer looked down at the gun staring at him on the table, "...What the hell?" He turned around to see the two of them standing there, "Oh shit, Jim they're right behind us!"

He watched Griff get hit in the nose with an elbow just before he had to deal with the engineer rounding on him. Kal ducked under the first punch only to grab his arm and twist it backwards. He used his free hand to desperately try and cover Jim's helmet mouthpiece hoping it would be enough to prevent him from calling for help. Unfortunately, Jim used his other arm to grab his sidearm and tried to aim it at Kal who was behind him now. If that gun went off even from an accidental discharge, any hope they had of stealing the ship via a stealthy approach was over and the likelihood they died increased dramatically. With some quick thinking, Kal used his superior strength to throw Jim out of the hole they had come in through before he had time to fire. The body would fall through the clouds of the gas giant endlessly, he couldn't think of many worse ways you could die at the moment.

A yelp of pain made Kal turn around as quickly as he could, "Somebody HELP!!!"

The engineer fighting Griff had somehow managed to get on top of him and was starting to yell for help. How was this Batarian so bad at fighting that he was losing to an engineer that even he could throw off of the ship as a Quarian? He knew the Batarian had to be young but, Erash had given him the impression Batarians trained to fight from the time they were babies and if someone wasn't good at killing they were exiled. Kal could worry about that later, right now he needed to shut the engineer up before he caught the attention of the entire ship with that screaming. Even though it had the risk to make plenty of noise on it's own, Kal grabbed him by the back of the neck and broke it. Since no one else was charging through the door, Kal assumed they had a little bit of breathing room. No one would be eating in the mess hall during the middle of a battle right?

Griff helped himself up while wiping some blood off his nose, "I think that fucker broke my nose... Sorry about that, I just didn't think he would move his head around to look at anything."

Kal put his head against the door to make sure no one was coming at them immediately, "I didn't know a Batarian could get their ass handed to them quite that spectacularly by a Human engineer. Maybe next time you could just follow my lead instead of trying to renact the Skillyian Blitz."

Griff had a very angry tone when he responded with, "I don't just kill Humans for the fun of it you know, I'm not like the stereotype of a Batarian. Those were the chief engineers for the ship, the only people that could've stopped us from taking a joy ride in this thing. I don't know what your problem is with Batarians is, and quite frankly I don't give a damn but, one of these days we're going to have to work together. Whether you trust me or not."

The almost hurt tone that came out of Griff's mouth made Kal wince and take a step back in his head. His entire experience with Batarians was ultimately shaped by two people, Balak and Erash. Balak was a monster that couldn't possibly reflect all of the Batarian populations views on Humanity and yet, it was impossible to ignore the sheer number of people that followed him into the Skillyian Blitz for his cause. He had even had complicated feelings for Erash after all that but, then he stabbed him in the back resulting in the deaths of all the members of Archangel. Kal thought he had gotten over that incident. It was clear now though that he was transferring his hurt from what Erash did onto the kid which wasn't fair to him. Quit being what dad would be proud of and get past it, they have work to do Kal thought to himself.

He stepped backwards away from the door and gave Griff his gun back, "Sorry, usually my experience with Batarians doesn't end well.. Here's the plan, we're going to make our way to the bridge as soon as possible and get you in the cockpit. Then you'll seal us inside and open the airlocks across the rest of the ship."

Griff frowned but had a determined nod, "Glad to see your not against everyone off this ship by force I guess. I wish there was another way to get this done though.."

Kal tilted his head out of curiosity, "If you think they'll listen to reason I'm all ears to hear your plan. Talking would certainly be easier than sneaking around with a risk of getting caught."

Griff snorted as though he just said something insane, "There's a reason I decided to work with Miranda on the losing side instead of Leng. One is logical and listens to reason while the other doesn't. I don't think I have to tell you which is which."

Kal sighed remembering his last fight with Leng on the Collector Satellite, "No you don't.. Come on, we've stayed in here too long already."

After a deep breath, Kal opened the door expecting at least a few crew members lingering around the mess hall they'd have to deal with. To his complete surprise, no one was there. In fact, the kitchen wasn't even equipped with the expensive meals that he was accustomed to and instead just had a surprisingly small amount of military grade meals. Apparently Cerberus went through a massive budget cut if this was what The Illusive Man was comfortable giving his employees now. Either that or Leng didn't feel they deserved anything better than a cube of nutrients. Passing the medbay gave him the same eerie feeling that the ship was empty. Maybe this was going to be an easier takeover then he had thought.

Griff peered up and down the hall next to the elevator just as confused as he was, "I thought it would take us at least twenty minutes to get through the crew stationed down here.. Where in the hell is everyone?"

Kal didn't know how to answer that, "I don't know, maybe enough of you joined Miranda's side that Leng has been forced to work with a skeleton crew?"

Griff laughed at that as if he had made the funniest joke he had ever heard, "There's only fifty of us Kal and Cerberus had thousands of people in operation by the time you jumped through the Omega-4 Relay. Leng could afford to have the ship jammed pack if he wanted to."

Now that they were talking, Kal took the chance to ask, "What made Miranda and the other fifty of you want to break off from The Illusive Man?"

The elevator conveniently opened causing Griff to casually walk inside, "Looks like we get to go up without any resistance. We can talk about that after we take over the ship and save Miranda."

Kal was really trying to trust him as best he could but, things like that were making it difficult. Why not just tell them what was going on here instead of dodging the question every chance he got? Once Miranda got onboard she was probably going to tell them at least the basics of what happened so why wouldn't Griff? Was he somehow responsible for the divide and felt guilty it was leading to bloodshed? That was unlikely he decided, Miranda wouldn't have sacrificed her position in Cerberus just because a Batarian did something wrong, she had joined because of her sisters well being not her love for aliens. The theory Kal was leaning on right now was that Griff wasn't a good liar and wanted to give Miranda whatever room to tell them what she wanted to. It was true she didn't technically lie to them during the hunt for the Collectors. Now though they were dealing with the very survival of Cerberus as an organization, would that be enough to change Miranda's calculations?

His doubt was going to have to wait because the elevator door was opening. Kal was once again getting ready for a fight yet there was no one waiting for them when the door opened. It was impossible to fly this size of a ship without at least a few crew members to man the controls so, where was everyone? He took a step forward only for Griff to grab his shoulder and drag him back into the shadow of the elevator. A LOKI mech marched by them obviously on patrol around the CIC. From what he could see on the other side of the galaxy map, all the other chairs leading to the cockpit were also filled with LOKI's. The Illusive Man would rather have scrap metal work for him rather than organics who had the possibility of stabbing him in the back. How paranoid had he become that he would go to this extreme to prevent differing opinions?

Griff had a concerned expression splashed across his face while glancing at Kal, "We aren't going to be able to sneak around these guys like we could with a bunch of Humans. Do you have a plan B?"

Kal's mind was racing knowing they couldn't give up now, "We'll be able to get around them easier than people actually. Wait here, I know where I'm going and you don't."

Griff had a frustrated tone glaring at him with all four eyes, "It's not like I can't follow you. You have a pretty big red ass that's not really hard to miss."

Kal suppressed a laugh thinking that was something Zero would've said, "That might be true, unfortunately for you I'm the only one with a suit that can cloak it's thermal imaging so they won't see me."

Without another word, Kal snuck away towards Mordin's tech lab. Admittedly Kal had no idea if what he was thinking of doing was actually going to do what he thought it would, however, he was out of options. In his brief time period leading a Quarian squad after his pilgrimage and before his time in the Skillyian Blitz, he had learned Geth sometimes lost navigational sensors when the temperature was raised. Given the fact that LOKI mech's weren't even true synthetics, he assumed that any temperature increase would be far more devastating to their sensors. If he was wrong, he would have to use his suit to cool down and sneak into the cockpit alone. He realized getting instructions on how to fly a ship this size from someone who couldn't actually see the controls was a bad idea. His hope was that it wasn't going to have to come to something so dangerous.

One of the LOKI's was standing in the lab seemingly fascinated with all of the chemicals and other lab equipment Leng didn't bother getting rid of making Kal freeze. While the mech's head turned to look at the door, he didn't raise his weapon or start firing so he could safely assume the suit was doing it's job. Even so, he took slow deliberate steps towards the temperature controls not wanting to make a sudden move and have any of the LOKIs hear him. It was at a painful snails pace but, finally Kal was able to get to the controls and start to tap it just a few degrees to see the response. He couldn't help from feeling a sense of satisfaction run through him as he watched the head of the mech droop as he started to shut down.

Griff's voice yelled at him as he ran out of the elevator, "What the hell were you thinking?! If a LOKI is flying the ship and it shuts down we are all fucked!"

Kal quickly turned around and chased Griff towards the cockpit, "I was thinking you'd be able to catch us before we fell and this was better than having to fight all of them right now."

Griff kicked the LOKI out of the chair and grabbed the nearest joystick he could to keep the ship stable, "Next time just tell me if you have an idea that could kill us if I'm not fast enough."

Kal ignored him staring out of the viewport seeing Kai Leng and several Phantoms facing down Jack and the others, "Instead of just keeping us stable, why don't you kill them with everything we have?"

Griff gave him an annoyed look, "I took out all of the ships weapons remember? The best I could do is send the ship into them and-"

He was interrupted when Leng was tossed into one of the Shadow Broker's ship doors by Liara and Thane while the Phantoms started to turn around and walk back towards the Normandy. Kal had an urgent tone, "Alright, close the cargo hold door and get us out of the Broker's weapon range until the group can give us a signal."

Griff raised his top eyebrow skeptically despite following his orders, "What, do you and Shepard have some sort of universal signal you give each other in any situation?"

Kal chuckled shaking his head amused, "I mean, not really but with Shepard you'll know. It usually involves an explosion or two."

He hoped Jack was going to be able to do this without him, since the Normandy didn't have any weapons, they weren't going to be able to help at all other than picking them up.

_o0o_

The last thing Feron had remembered was getting stabbed by Leng for a second time after all of the revelations surrounding The Illusive Man was revealed. He thought he had died and was at peace with that fact knowing he had stalled long enough for Miranda to escape. She didn't hear anything that could help the Alliance but, at least she would've been safe, it was clear he was alive though. His eyes quickly danced around the room to see Miranda, Saren, Legion, and a Yahg hovering around him all giving him a weary eye. Feron was about to ask why everyone was looking at him like that when he saw a beautiful Drell was standing behind Miranda, it was his mother and she had such a sweet smile on her face.

Before he could process what that could mean, Saren marched towards him putting the barrel of a pistol to his face, "It doesn't matter where you are, it's time to die."

Miranda slipped between them before he could pull the trigger, "Wait just a minute will you? He might not be that far along yet and it's reversable." She turned around to face him, "Feron this is very important, I need you to tell me what the last thing you remember is."

That should be easy Feron thought to himself, remembering things was second nature to a Drell. "I..." His gaze starts to fade away only to return immediately, "I can't..you were running I..I think. Miri, what's happening to me?"

Her face went pale and she turned towards the Yahg, "He's past phase one, how the fuck can he be past phase one when it took Saren at least a year to get this far?"

The Yahg appeared to squirm in his overly large chair uncomfortable under her scrutiny, "Because he didn't under go the same method of insmrchi-"

He frowned when the word seemed to get blurred and Irikah was in his face, "Don't pay attention to them Feron, think of me. Think about when I made you cookies after your first day of school. Think about us as a family."

Feron wanted to pay attention to the conversation since it was about him but, his mother's suggestion was indeed too powerful to ignore. He remembered that day quite vividly, he had learned about how to tell galactic standard time from their Hanar teacher. Other than the fact that father had been away with business offworld it had been the perfect day of his life. It was such a simple time back then when he didn't have to think about having a double life or his complicated feelings for Miranda. Back then he just had happy days with his mom ending in hugs and kisses. When had that stopped? Why had it stopped? Once again Feron grew uncomfortable with the fact that he couldn't remember something extremely important to where his life had ended up. At least she was here now, his brain was telling him that was all that mattered.

Miranda turned to face him again after what felt like hours day dreaming about the time he had with Irikah, "Feron, what are you looking at? Are you seeing someone?"

Feron was about to answer when Irikah shook her head, "You have to lie, otherwise they'll try to keep us apart.."

He hated lying to his siha, at the same time though he wanted to keep his mother around even if it was just for a little while. "No just you."

Miranda had a stunningly serious tone, "Then what were you looking at Feron? You have to tell me the truth, it's important."

Before he could come up with an answer, the Yahg followed his gaze towards the wall of information, "Asteroid X99...."

Rael and Miranda spoke in the same moment, "What's asteroid X99?"

Saren interrupted the conversation by firing a gunshot into the air, "I'm sure it would be a fascinating discussion but, I need my coordinates Broker. Every second we stand here yelling at each other is another moment wasted as the Reapers continue their march here."

Feron took a minute to process everything Saren had just said. It was alarming to learn Jack had been unable to stop the Reapers impending arrival for sure but, the revelation that this Yahg was the Shadow Broker stuck out to him more. The idea that all the information AIA had acted on from the Shadow Broker had come from just one individual seemed absurd. Did he ever have to sleep? To eat? Anything? If he was feeling any better he might've tried to arrest him on behalf of the Alliance, he just didn't feel confident he could take on a Yahg in a fight. His muscles felt weak and his body generally felt cold from head to toe. Despite knowing cryo pod side effects usually went away after just a few minutes, Feron told himself that's what was causing the sensations running through his body. At least thinking like that was much better than assuming the worst and he had Kepral's.

The Shadow Broker slumped into the large seat behind him a little defeated, "Even if I gave you coordinates and you left right now it would already be too late. The Reapers will be here in the next seventy two hours.."

Miranda tilted her head to the side, "What are you talking about..?"

The Broker let out a breath, "My agents were tasked with investigating the reports of a Reaper signal traveling from the Omega-4 Relay all the way to the Relay stationed in the Viper Nebula."

Feron's mind raced knowing he knew the name of that system from somewhere else, it felt important and he decided to focus on it. His eyes lost focus and this time his brain let him slip into a memory. He was on the Normandy giving Jack, Kal, and Vetra a speech with Kasumi standing beside him. Sentences from the conversation were starting to float to the surface, "I don't know.. What I do know is Cora and the first ships are leaving soon. According to Kasumi's tickets, the 'Nexus' leaves for Andromeda from the Viper Nebula next week." Why couldn't he remember the whole discussion more clearly? He did remember saying something else though, "Batarian space I believe, it doesn't matter. What matters is we can't let Cora take that trip without having eyes on her and have someone who is prepared to stop her when they get there." Why had he cared so much about stopping a Cora? Who was she?

The Broker continued meaning Feron didn't say the memory out loud, "They found proof that the Reapers will be arriving in the Nebula. When the Reapers get there, they’ll use its Mass Relay to travel throughout the galaxy. From that Nebula, the Reapers can invade anywhere in the Milky Way."

Saren sounded skeptical, "How do we know this isn't one of your games in order to avoid giving us coordinates?"

Legion spoke up next, "My original purpose for leaving Rannoch was to investigate a signal coming from that very same Nebula. When I arrived I encountered Sovereign, it is only logical that he used the Reapers existing back door."

Miranda gave the Yahg a knowing glance, "So you decided to attempt to destroy it.... Asteroid X99. To give everyone more time."

The Shadow Broker gave a subtle nod, "Exactly. Doing so would stop the Reapers’ invasion, for a time. Time I could use to study insikmrchy.." Feron shook his head knowing he needed to hear the rest, "Even at FTL speeds, it’d be months or years before they got to the next Relay. I came up with what I like to call, 'the Project': a plan to launch a nearby asteroid into the Relay and destroy it before the Reapers could arrive. Of course, the resulting explosion would probably wipe out the system."

Saren spoke in a growl, "If you already have a plan why are you acting as though all is lost?!"

The Broker sighed glancing towards the floor, "The Batarians have stopped the asteroid mid flight seeing it as a terrorist attack by the Alliance. The cost of using a Human firm I'm afraid."

Feron felt like something else in his mind was forcing him to ask, "Why do you think destroying the Mass Relay would destroy the entire system?"

Rael was the first to answer with, "Mass Relays are the most powerful Mass Effect engines in the known galaxy. The energy released from a Relay’s destruction would probably resemble a supernova. The explosion would undoubtedly kill them all....."

Legion added, "A necessary loss to ensure the survival of all organic life."

Feron let out a shout of anger, "NO! Think about how many Batarians will die if that were to happen!"

Irikah gave him a broad smile, "I am so proud of you son. Don't let them do this..."

Miranda tried to keep a calm tone, "Feron listen to me, those Batarians are going to die one way or the other. With the galaxy at stake we have to look at the big picture. You taught me that."

Feron stood up and moved towards her, "Not this time Miri, we need to be saying our last goodbyes, preparing for the-"

The sound of a gunshot cut him off except, nothing happened. He didn't feel any pain and there wasn't any blood gushing out of his surprisingly blue veins anywhere meaning he hadn't been hit. Turning around to look behind him, Feron realized he had caught a bullet Saren shot towards him out of instinct with his biotics. That wasn't normal for any biotic to be able to do but, he wasn't going to complain since it had just saved his life. Now all he had to decide was where he was going to send that bullet. Saren was a SPECTRE and would probably be able to roll out of the way so, why not the Shadow Broker? Not only would he be doing something for the AIA but also getting rid of the man that could come up with a way to cause a massive amount of bloodshed. The bullet had perfect aim and zipped to the center of the Yahg's eight eyes killing him instantly.

Saren launched himself forward only for Feron to blast him away with biotics, "Did you think you could cause genocide twice and get away with it Saren?!"

Irikah's voice sounded worried in his ear, "Where's the woman?"

He looked around and saw Miranda was nowhere in sight, "I'll find her once I kill Saren."

Irikah let out a scream, "No! You will leave him. She knows too much, kill the woman. Kill the woman... Kill the woman......."


	12. Chapter 11: Search and Rescue

By the time Liara had finally managed to open the communication array door, Jack had to admit he was feeling exhausted. Even in the most stressful situations over the past two years, he almost always had a small amount of time to breath whenever the Normandy was traveling to the next emergency. Today though he had gone from helping to kill an Ardat-Yakshi on Illium, to fighting what felt like was an endless supply of Lazarus Phantoms on top of the Shadow Brokers ship all within the span of a few hours. The fact he didn't have any armor on for protection made him hyper aware of everything going on which also was draining if he had to focus for such a long period. No matter the outcome of what happened here, Jack was looking forward to sleeping on the way back to Alliance space despite knowing he was going to be in even deeper shit when he returned.

Garrus landed next to them after tossing the last Phantom off of the edge of the ship with the help of his shoe jetpacks, "Liara, don't buy any hacking equipment from the people you got this stuff from ever again. If we weren't here you would've been killed long before you even got halfway through that."

Liara put the hacking delivery system back in her bag and steadied her weapon, "I know that now, at the time I was just looking for the cheapest device I could find so the Broker didn't know what I was using his funds for. I have a feeling I won't have to worry about that for much longer."

Thane picked up a pistol from one of the dead Phantoms before turning to face them, "It would be best if we had this discussion later, the assassin has a good five minute head start. If his intent is to kill my son, we need to hurry."

He understood Thane was impatient to find his son, who wouldn't be when they discovered they were being traded around between two powerful organizations in the criminal underworld? What Jack was having a hard time with was grasping why Feron had been offered to the Shadow Broker to begin with. Miranda killing Wilson near his cryo pod because he worked with Cora seemed as though it was a strong indication of how Cerberus dealt with traitors. The Illusive Man put a bounty on his own daughter so it wasn't as if the killing traitors philosophy was strictly Miranda's. Even if Lazarus had a new policy of not killing former employees, why wouldn't they just keep him for information? Feron had been part of the AIA, surely The Illusive Man would've wanted any knowledge Feron had about operations for himself and not want to share anything with the Broker. Something wasn't adding up here, he just didn't know what yet and decided to keep it to himself. 

Jack took a cautious step into the hallway inside wondering where Leng went, "Agreed. Where would the Shadow Broker most likely be keeping Feron, Liara?"

Liara tapped at her omni tool a few times to bring up the blueprints for the interior of the ship, "I don't know how the Broker has repurposed the ship so, anything I say will just be an educated guess. Having said that, I'd assume most of the crew lives in the lower parts of the ship away from the energy siphons. The noise would make living in the upper regions irritating to say the least. We're just going to have to take a look around to be sure."

Thane bowed his head and motioned them to go forward, "We will follow your lead then."

As Jack followed right behind Liara into the ship, the first thing he noticed was how messy it appeared to be. Having guessed this was a Prothean ship from the shield envelope they had been saved by earlier, he could understand a certain degree of mess, this was much worse. The walls had streaks of water running down them every few feet and the amount of rust was shocking. On Feros he expected the rust since it was a newly discovered archaeological dig site yet according to Griff, the Shadow Broker had lived here for who knows how long. Why wouldn't someone take care of the ship better if it was your home? After a certain amount of decay, ship systems would break down which surely had the potential to jeopardize the safety of everyone onboard. Maybe the Broker just didn't care, or perhaps he had other priorities that made cleaning the ship meaningless.

The actual architecture of the ship definitely had influences from other Prothean sites he had been to, long trapezoidal corridors with occasional doors. He was actually a little surprised Prothean architecture felt so consistent no matter where they were. Whether it was an apparent military base like Virmire, a grain silo like Feros, or now this energy ship everything with the Protheans was uniform. Humanity couldn't keep everything straight from culture to culture let alone planet to planet. At first, Jack was impressed with the discipline they had to get everyone on the same page for every single design they had. However, the implication Jack came to almost immediately was the fact that the Protheans probably didn't have many opportunities to be creative. Some of Humanities greatest achievements came from creativity in the face of adversity so, he had to wonder what living in their society was really like.

Jack felt like they had been walking down the same hallway for a long time only for the next door to open and he stopped to admire the view for a few seconds. What he had assumed were engine fins on the surface of the ship were actually just a different kind of drive core if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Instead of a glowing blue orb with magnets constantly spinning around it to keep it's shape, metal rods from the exterior slammed down into a pool of what he had to assume was eezo below the balcony they were currently walking across. Jack wasn't a drive core expert but, he would've loved to ask someone like Tali which system performed better. The bang each time one of the rods slammed into the eezo definitely reinforced Liara's idea that no one would want to live next to that noise if it just kept happening again and again. He personally wanted to run as fast as he could just so that he would have room to think in his mind.

Garrus spoke loudly as they continued to quickly make their way along the balcony, "I wonder how long it took the Protheans to make something like this."

Liara took an almost tour guide esque tone, "You'd be surprised by how fast the Protheans were able to build entire cities within a matter of just a few months by the time the Reapers arrived in their cycle. Although, the fact everything looks almost identical suggests they had a sort of prefab building system when things started to go badly for them. Why focus on individuality when you have a war to fight?"

Jack turned the next corner still not seeing Leng or any other people coming to attack them, "It's a shame the Shadow Broker doesn't try to maintain a place like this better. I'm sure any Prothean ship at one hundred percent would be a big help against the Reapers."

Liara was less tense then the rest of them as they made their way to another corridor, "I won't pretend to understand the Broker but, I'd speculate he deemed his intelligence gathering more important then the beauty of this ship. Maybe even above his own hygiene."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that, "You seem to know a lot about how this guy thinks. What was your relationship with the Shadow Broker anyways? It kinda seems like you worked for him, and at the same time were working behind his back."

Liara led them to an elevator that was thankfully large enough for all of them to fit in, "When you work in the information business you tend to relate to a lot of the same issues. I can't imagine what it is like to know personal details of every person of note in the galaxy. I don't know if I could focus on anything else, I'd be too afraid I missed something of significant importance. As for a relationship? I was one of his middle men, similar to Barla Von on the Citadel."

Garrus let out a little huff, "So Barla was a part of the Shadow Brokers team. Now I wish I would've stayed in C-SEC just a little longer to catch the bastard."

Jack gave him a broad teasing smile, "I think you'll be glad you didn't when we get back to Earth." He turned to give a genuinely curious look to Liara, "Still haven't said why your turning on him now if you worked for him these past two years."

Liara sighed staring at the elevator floor indicator numbers tick down, "While we never met in person, I had disagreements with the Broker on how much information we should be sharing with our clients. I'm not in this just for the credits Jack, I want to help people with the knowledge I've gathered. The Broker is far more materialistic then I am."

Sensing it was a touchy subject, Jack didn't ask anything else from her. He was about to move the conversation back and make a joke about how he thought hygiene was pretty important itself, however, the elevator door opened to a bloodbath. At least six Salarians were on the ground with cuts all over them. This was Leng's doing, Jack could almost picture the assassin gracefully cutting through the six of them like they were annoying obstacles to his real target rather than people. Garrus silently stopped them and pointed to the Salarian in the far back of the group with a worried expression on his face. Jack didn't understand what made him more nervous about that Salarian more so than any of the other ones until he looked at him more closely. There weren't any cuts or gunshot wounds and instead he was bent into a crushed ball. The biotics in Leng's sword had shoved and pushed him around before but, it was never able to do something like that. Either he upgraded his sword to have more tricks, or that Salarian's death was caused by someone else.

Thane walked over to him to look at the body closer, "This Salarian had every bone in his body crushed by a biotic. I'd assume an Ardat-Yakshi or a Justicar if it wasn't so unlikely to have multiple of either in the same system. I don't know who could've done this without passing out from exhaustion."

Garrus pointed to his arm lightly, "Saren was able to do something similar to me on Therum when he was indoctrinated. I don't want to panic or anything but, I think we have to consider the possibility we're dealing with another indoctrinated Reaper agent..."

Jack knew Garrus was still thinking Saren was indoctrinated because of his actions on Illium, he still didn't think that was true though. Sure, he had sided with Morinth originally however, Jack thought it was important to keep in mind that didn't last for long. When the fighting actually started, Saren stopped Morinth from killing them and then later shot her in the leg to prevent her from escaping. That wasn't something an indoctrinated Saren would care about. With that ruled out, Jack thought about the potential of the Reapers having a new agent. Even though this Salarian did appear to have had a run in with a Reaper, he also didn't know how that was possible. As far as he knew, Sovereign had been the only Reaper in the Milky Way for the past fifty thousand years. How would an agent for the Shadow Broker become indoctrinated after Sovereign's death aboard the Collector Satellite? The most likely scenario was that Leng had just received upgrades for his sword and was showing off for them.

He gave a quick glance around the room to make sure they were alone before saying, "With everything that happened beyond the Omega-4 Relay I don't think that could be true. At the same time, we can't ignore everything staring us in the face. Keep your guard up we have no idea what's going on here."

The others gave a silent nod and Liara carefully stepped over a few of the bodies, reaching forward to open the next door. From all the doors along the next hallway Jack could guess they were in a barracks area which made the silence all the more bizzare. In the middle of a battle shouldn't all of the Shadow Broker's men be getting ready for a fight? Where were the alarm sounds indicating they were under attack? The Shadow Broker's ship had fired at the Normandy so it wasn't as though they were unaware a battle was happening at all. So the question again became, where were they? His gut felt like this was all just a set up to lure him here. Maybe that was just his experience with Akuze talking, yet that had been a Cerberus plan as well. He had a growing fear Miranda wasn't here at all and Griff had been lying to get them to this ship for some unknown purpose.

Garrus could obviously feel it too, "Is it just me, or is this ship way too quiet to have been in the middle of a battle a few minutes ago..? I don't like this Shepard."

Jack stepped around a corner in front of Liara feeling as tense as he did exploring Akuze, "Yeah, do we have comms with Griff? I wanna know exactly where Miranda and the other Cerberus members are being kept."

Liara cut in sounding concerned, "If they're still trying to take over the Normandy we might blow their cover by attempting a communication. Maybe we should look around a little longer?"

Jack responded in a skeptical tone, "I don't think the Normandy would've abandoned the Phantoms if it was still under Lazarus control. I'm going to try and open a channel."

He started the process of opening up his omni tool when a door at the far end of the hall swung apart. All of their guns trained on the entrance out of instinct only to be greeted by a middle aged balding Human in a Cerberus uniform come running towards them. Well, at least it was comforting to know Griff wasn't completely lying to put him in a trap. Just as Jack was going to call out to the man sprinting for them, it was becoming abundantly clear he wasn't alone. It started as a trickle of one or two other Cerberus operatives climbing over themselves to get through the door. Unfortunately, that number grew into a large clump giving Jack memories of watching people try to get into stores during the inergalactic day of sales for Alliance Space every year. Whatever they were trying to get away from had to be terrifying if they were running towards a group of people pointing guns at them without fear.

The balding man was the first to shout, "Run! Go! It's a war back there!"

Jack lowered his gun while trying to get a view of what was happening behind the group, "I don't know where you think your going to go but, the hangar door is closed. You aren't going to get anywhere this way."

Most of the crowd in front of them had the same collective shout, "Oh my god we're going to die!"

Jack held up a hand trying to calm the crowd, "I'm Commander Jack Shepard, Griff got me here to rescue everyone but I need to know what's going on to help."

Saren's body came flying through the door before ramming into the back wall. He quickly got back up before turning his head in their direction. "I could use some help Shep- Argh."

A hail of gunfire came through the door forcing Saren to roll out of the way except he hadn't heard any gunfire, that definitely wasn't a good sign. "Garrus, Liara, stay here and make sure nothing happens to these people."

Without making sure they acknowledged the order, Jack and Thane started pushing the crowd aside so they could help Saren with whatever he was dealing with. Another round of bullets spitting past the doorway made Jack slide to a stop so he wouldn't immediately get hit. He also grabbed Thane's jacket to stop the Drell from going through the door himself without knowing what was going on in the next room. Upon first glance, Jack saw Feron and Leng fighting surrounded by Shadow Broker agents shooting at both of them. It was easy to assume the bullets coming at them were stray shots from the Shadow Broker's people who were missing until he gave Feron a closer look. The Drell's skin wasn't his usual bright green and instead almost translucent, he could see a few of his veins glowing a neon blue. The even bigger sign something was wrong was the fact that Feron's biotics were an inky black and he was catching bullets with it. Just like Saren at the height of his indoctrination.

Thane twisted his wrist forcing him to let go of the jacket, "Kolyat's in trouble and I'm going to help him whether you approve or not Shepard."

Jack groaned shaking his arm from the fact it had gone numb, "Thane, Kolyat is indoctrinated, just look at him. We can't just-"

The Drell ignored him continuing to march forward through the door only for Saren to stop Jack from following, "Let this play out, Legion needs a few more seconds of relative peace in there to get the coordinates for the Processing Hub."

Jack shook his head pushing Saren out of the way, "I'm not letting him go in there to his death. Are you coming or not?"

The Turian snarled following him through the door, "Just like your mother. We don't have time to die here period. The Reapers are coming."

Jack fired at the first Salarian to turn their attention towards him, "We've known that for awhile now Saren. We can swap stories when we get out of here."

Saren was about to say something else when he was interrupted by more of the Salarians deciding it was better to shoot at someone they could conceivably hit. The two of them ducked behind a desk that had been kicked up earlier only for Thane to start attacking them from the left flank. While Feron and Leng were attacking each other in a well choreographed dance of punches and kicks, Thane was far more brutal in his attacks. He used one Salarian as a shield firing his pistol at weaknesses in the Salarian's armor so the bullets could hit other Salarians behind the first. Jack let off a few shots at the group behind Thane knowing it was best to take them out before Feron. The sad truth was that now Feron was indoctrinated, they had no choice but to put him down. He knew from experience negotiating with someone who was indoctrinated went nowhere. Jack would have better luck convincing Zero not to curse all the time. How Leng had managed to do this to him was irrelevant, the message to other members of Cerberus was clear. If you betray us you will become a Husk, souless with the single goal of following the Reapers.

It was at least satisfying to watch Leng get his ass kicked over and over again by Feron. Every time the assassin tried duck out of the way of a punch, Feron would punish him with a kick. A sword swing hitting thin air would be rewarded with a biotic back hand powerful enough to hit a Kodiak. And that was before Thane managed to join the fray. Having always been just a little too distant to be a part of his inner circle, it was understandable why Thane was helping his son. As far as he was concerned, Leng was the only enemy who may have experimented on his son to make him look like his skin was turning into a thin layer of glass. Jack decided to lean into that knowing he had defeated Saren two years ago ultimately by distracting him. If this version of Feron thought he was just trying to help him, he could strike when the Reaper least expected it. Plus, he could take the opportunity to finish Leng for good with the help of a Reaper.

Leng took several steps back now that the four of them were closing on him, "Like what I've done Shepard? Done something it took the Reapers years to do with Saren."

He was about to say something when Feron's cold half robotic voice filled the room, "Enough of your pointless banter! Where is the woman?"

Jack and Saren shared a look before going to Thane's flanks next to Feron, "What's going on Feron? Who are we looking for?"

Feron glared at them just realizing he had a group of people behind him, "Shepard, I'm glad your here." He lifted Saren off of the ground with his biotics putting him next to Leng, "These two along with Miranda and the Shadow Broker are planning the genocide of Batarians in the millions. I need your help to end it."

Jack knew it wasn't possible for Miranda, Saren, and Leng to agree on anything but he had to play along right now, "If that's true we need to do everything we can to find Miranda now." He punched Leng in the jaw, "Where is she you piece of shit?!"

Leng smirked at him seemingly finding this moment funny, "If I knew that do you think I'd be here having a fist fight with a frog..?"

Feron pushed Jack aside only to fire a round in Leng's ankle, "Tell me where she is! I know you two work together!" After just a second Feron shot at his other ankle, "NOW!"

A rather alarmed Thane touched Feron's shoulder to try and soothe him, "Kolyat, there are other solutions to a problem other than violence. Let's have Shepard try and talk to him so your soul isn't tainted with anymore needless bloodshed."

Feron spun on Thane putting the gun in his face, "Now your worried about my soul? Now? I don't remember you caring much after Mom died and you sent me to live with the Hanar. What did you think they were going to teach me to do, clothing design?"

Jack was frozen with a moment of indecision, knowing what he did in the next few seconds would decide the fate of several people. Feron looked like he was about to pull the trigger and blow Thane's brains out so doing nothing so he could attack later would almost certainly lead to Thane dying. On the one hand, Jack doubted there would be another time when Feron would be so distracted by his personal problems. His relationship with Thane was troubled long before Feron was indoctrinated making his emotional response stronger, more raw. The only reason Jack was hesitating though was because he had no idea if this kind of angry outburst signalled that Feron was even more powerful than when he was calm. Without any kind of armor on, Jack was only going to get one chance to do this right. In the end, he decided it was now or never and started raising his own pistol to fire.

To his surprise Leng was getting back up to his feet with the help of his sword, "It's been fun to see you again Shepard but, I'm afraid we're going to have to finish this another time."

Before any of them could react, Leng slammed his sword into the ground twice sending sparks everywhere before the room went dark. An EMP must've been inside the sword cutting power to at least just the room they were standing in. A scream from Saren and Feron caught him by surprise only for the Drell to knock him down and flee. Jack would've been firing at both of them if he had any way to see in the dark, he was hating Ashley's decision to keep armor from them more and more as time went on. Because of her stubborn refusal to think past their differences, Feron and Leng were going to get away. Admittedly she couldn't possibly imagine their trip to see Liara would end like this, she was just a convenient place to put his anger right now. With the seconds continuing to tick by without the power coming back on, Jack was becoming concerned the EMP had effected more than just this one room. Liara had made it quite clear it wouldn't be a good thing for the engines to shut down even for a few seconds in this kind of environment.

The bright blue light from Legion flashed on him, helping him to get back up, "Shepard-Commander, it is good to be working on the same side again."

Jack had no time to answer when the light switched to a green color with Rael adding, "Yes, I'm sorry I couldn't intervene Commander. Someone shut me out of the system for a few hours. I hope you haven't dragged my daughter into this mess as well."

Saren snarled returning through the door Feron went through to chase Leng, "They're moving too fast for me to keep up. Legion, tell me you got those coordinates before we lost power."

Legion stared down at the floor for a few seconds, "I was able to extract a general set of coordinates however, the EMP stopped us from getting something specific. My calculations state it would take us five years to traverse the area I was able to discover. Our chances of survival are a solid two percent."

Saren cried out in a pure rage, "FUCK!"

Jack wanted to remind them they had immediate things to worry about when Liara was yelling for them from the way they came, "Jack?! Jack, we need to move. The ship is going to lose stable orbit and we'll be crushed by the center of the gas giant any minute now!"

He yelled back to her, "I know, we're working on it." He turned his head towards Legion, "We're going to need you to communicate with the Normandy and tell Kal we need a pick up. Tell him we'll be on the surface of the hull."

Miranda's voice surprised him as she brushed past him with what he thought were grenades in hand, "It would take too long to get back outside. Stand back while I blow a hole in the room."

It was typical of Miranda not to go along with normal greetings no matter the situation so he was used to that. However, when they did get back to the Normandy, he expected a good explanation of what happened after they were separated on the Collector Satellite. She owed him that much for dragging him out here away from the Alliance. Jack took Thane by the shoulder and dragged him out of the room so Miranda could set off the grenades. The Drell was staring off into space dealing with what just happened.


	13. Chapter 12: The Shadow Broker(s)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive the delay, I just haven't had the heart to write in a little while.. Expect more regular updates again soon tm.

Jack was still trying to figure out what happened to Feron during his captivity by the time they reached the conference room on the Normandy. Leng taking responsibility and even boasting about what had become of Feron was alarming to say the least. If they remained in the dark about how the indoctrination was achieved so quickly, they weren't going to have the opportunity to stop them when Lazarus decided to indoctrinate people on a larger scale. He immediately pictured Leng dropping a chemical weapon on the Citadel causing the indoctrination of millions of innocent civilians. Did Lazarus realize Feron wasn't going to be working for them in that state and instead, for the Reapers? A part of him couldn't help but feel the tactical logic of The Illusive Man was gone and had been replaced by a burn everything to the ground mentality.

His anxiety certainly wasn't helped by Saren's brooding behavior with Legion. He understood looking through a large swath of the Perseus Veil was going to be a challenge, however, Saren was acting as though this was the first time he was learning the Reapers were coming. Maybe his time separated from the group on Illium allowed him to see a more accurate time table to their arrival but Jack doubted it. There was zero indication Morinth had known anything about the Reapers and from what he could tell, Saren didn't have much time to talk with the Shadow Broker before everything went to hell. Still, he couldn't deny the Turian had a hurried speed to his step despite missing a majority of one hand. Jack's natural curiosity made him want to turn around and ask Saren what he knew now, the way the Turian wouldn't make eye contact though made it clear he wasn't in the mood to talk. And then there was Thane.

The Drell had been on one hell of an emotional rollercoaster these past few months. From learning you were probably going to die of Kepral's Syndrome in an Alliance jail, to meeting a Salarian that could cure the disease from prison, to finally being able to rescue his son only to find him like that. Even though Thane didn't know much about indoctrination, yet, Jack was sure he understood that being able to see through your child's skin was a bad sign. Jack had no idea how he or Kal would react to seeing Zero in a similar state to Feron. He could imagine Kal at least would have that same silent stare Thane was sporting now, seemingly lost to what was happening in the world around him. For her part, Miranda appeared to be ignoring Feron's indoctrination, once again making him question how deep their relationship really was. There was always the possibility she didn't know what happened to Feron yet but, her cold professional attitude was always so difficult to read either way.

Liara was smiling ahead of him with a friendly tone, "It's good to see you've gotten used to the biotic tossing Kal."

Kal was waiting for them at the door to the conference room, "And it's nice to know you didn't blow away off the side of that ship while I was gone."

Jack yanked him into a hug relieved to see him despite knowing he was ok for awhile now, "Next time take me with you on your crazy suicide mission, alright?"

Kal had a teasing tone when he replied with, "Isn't that what we've been doing for the past three years now? Maybe sometimes I want to do my own impossible stunts."

Miranda cleared her throat clearly irritated with the banter standing at the back of the conference room table, "You two can catch up later, we only have," She glanced at her omni tool, "seventy two hours to take control of Asteroid X99."

Jack held up a hand to stop her while walking into the conference room, "Woah, Miranda slow down I'm not in the loop really with anything that happened to you since we got separated on the Collector Satellite."

Her tone was short reminding him of her attitude during the Freedom's Progress mission, "Short version? Feron sold me out so he could get a shot at The Illusive Man and complete his mission. Turned out Cerberus had an inside man within the AIA and The Illusive Man knew all along what Feron was up to. There was a battle and I escaped, found the others and now, here we are."

He had so many questions just from that statement, they were going to have to wait because Thane spoke first, "Can anyone tell me what happened to my son?"

Jack knew they were going to have to have this conversation at some point, he just assumed from the urgency of Saren and Miranda that it needed to wait. Throughout the Skillyian Blitz, he had written his fair share of condolence letters so this should've been easy enough. Unfortunately, the difference was he never did it face to face to someone he considered a close colleague at the very least. Another part of the situation that made this harder was the fact that explaining indoctrination was a death sentence. Sure, Feron didn't look good but, he was still walking around, talking, and displaying incredible biotic powers. Thane had to be thinking that what Feron was going through could be cured just like Kepral's Syndrome. Mordin could admittedly do a lot and Saren had been cured so theoretically it was possible. The fact they only had seventy two hours to stop him though was definitely a problem. By all accounts it had taken two years to remove Saren's indoctrination, time they just didn't have.

Liara sat down next to him speaking with a calm tone, "He's been indoctrinated by the Reapers... It's a type of mind control..."

Saren finished for her darkly, "Your actions are not your own. The Reapers tell you to do something, like kill a loved one, and you do it. A voice in your skull convinces you that whatever it says is right, no matter how long your own convictions have gone against what they suggest."

Garrus folded his arms glaring at his brother, "I'm sure it doesn't hurt when the target being indoctrinated already has a questionable moral compass...."

Thane looked between the two of them with an almost hopeless expression, "Is there any hope of a way to save him? To convince him not to listen to the voice?"

Jack sighed feeling the pain of a man desperate to save his son, "We brought Saren back so potentially it's possible-"

Saren cut in, "Except for the fact I had to get killed and brought back with other Turians organs in a state of the art facility designed with that one purpose in mind. Something a Drell would never be able to afford."

Legion added salt to the wound, "Even if you were theoretically able to deactivate the indoctrination signal, the nanomachines inside Feron are eating away at his organic material at an alarming rate. He will be nothing more than a synthetic device for the old ones within the next few days. Unless caught immediately after first exposure and isolated from the rest of your blood stream, an organic has a literal zero percent chance of survival."

Rael let out a fake breath whispering, "He didn't need to hear those specifics Legion..."

Tears were subtly starting to form in Thane's eyes and he let out a cough, "I..I need a moment Commander. Do you mind if I go down to my old quarters for the time being?"

Jack gave a little nod, "Go ahead and take as much time as you need. I'll fill you in on what we're doing later."

When Thane disappeared, there was a moment of silence in the room. Even though he was glad for Legion's accurate assessments of missions a majority of the time, it was unsettling to hear what was happening to Feron in such graphic details. Everyone in the room knew Feron, and Jack personally owed him more than once. On Virmire, Feron had stayed behind leaving Miranda and Jacob so that he could save Kal. Later, Feron had ignored his order from the AIA to take him and Kal in to custody so that they could finish stopping the Collectors. The Drell had deserved better than getting stabbed in the back by someone he thought he could trust. If Jack ever got the opportunity, he would make sure to avenge his death, whether by killing those responsible, or ending Cerberus, Lazarus, all of it once and for all. Of course, that depended on the Alliance not throwing him in jail three times over for everything he'd done over the past few years.

Miranda waited until he was really gone to toss a datapad at Saren, "Full coordinates to the nearest Geth Processing Hub, go."

Saren stared at her in amazement, inspecting what she gave him, "How did you get all of this when even Legion couldn't?"

Miranda placed a small holographic emitter on the table, "While the rest of you were distracting Feron, I was grabbing this..."

A second later a blue glowing orb emerged from the emitter scanning each of them with it's singular blue eye, "Hello Shadow Brokers! My name is Glyph and I am here to assist you with any data you might need to analyze more closely from our field agents."

Kal asked the first obvious question on everyone's mind in a quiet tone hoping it wouldn't hear him, "Why does that thing think we're the Shadow Brokers? I don't think we can possibly look like them."

Miranda spoke normally not afraid of being heard, "The Broker was a Yahg so definitely none of you look like him. No, this was just a VI without very many security safeguards. Apparently, this particular Yahg had enough arrogance to believe no one would ever try and steal his data backups. I was able to program it to see us as the Broker for the time being."

Liara gawked at the discovery with a innocence he recognized from their days together on the original Normandy, "You were able to steal all of the Shadow Broker's existing data in the middle of a battle? Do you have any idea how much data could be buried inside this machine? Who knows what kind of secrets he was keeping to himself that we can now use to help people."

Glyph corrected her in a very pleasant tone, "Actually, I not only have quadrabytes of saved data, I also have a permanent stream of information being delivered to this unit for your viewing convenience. Is there anything you would like to see first?"

Liara had an absolutely giddy sparkle in her eye, "Glyph, I want you to give me anything the Broker collected on Prothean technology." She stood up giving Jack a nervous glance, "Jack, do you mind if I do a quick scan on Glyph in private to see if there's anything Prothean related we may have missed?"

He gave Miranda a look for the go ahead and when she shrugged he motioned in the affirmative, "I'm not getting my hopes up Liara but do what you have to do. Maybe he had a Prothean nuke laying around."

In the wrong hands, that kind of access to information at your fingertips was dangerous. Presumably, Jack could ask Glyph where every ship in the Alliance Navy was right now and he'd get a detailed report on his omni tool within seconds. Also the Broker had the contact details of countless assassins throughout the galaxy. If he really wanted to, Jack could ask Glyph to arrange an assassination on Councilor Udina and it would be done. Luckily, he knew his team well enough to know they wouldn't let this kind of power get to their heads, if they would even use it at all. As for Miranda, the fact she was sharing Shadow Broker status with the rest of them made Jack more comfortable with the arrangement. His guess was that since all of them were the Broker, each one of them could stop something another Broker ordered. He didn't necessarily enjoy the responsibility of having 'quadrabytes' worth of the galaxies' personal data but, this solution was a lot better than letting Leng have it all.

Saren gave a nod of approval, "Impressive, it's good to know you weren't just sacrificing me for the fun of it down there. Come on Legion, it's time to go."

Legion bowed his head and started to turn around to follow him out of the room, "It will be a pleasure to return to you all with some good news for once."

Jack raised a skeptical eyebrow, "That wound of yours looks like it could use some more medi-gel Saren. Are you sure your fit for this kind of travel?"

Saren let out a sarcastic chuckle, "What, my one handed self application of medi-gel isn't up to your standards Shepard? Maybe I wouldn't have to be in a rush if you were willing to teach your family that the mission has to take priority over trying to save everyone you care about."

Jack wanted to say something nasty back from the obvious attack on Kal's actions at the Collector Satellite, ultimately though he decided he had a point. If Kal had just let Zero go and stopped Leng from activating the Reaper signal, they wouldn't have to be worried about the Reapers coming through the Relays at any moment. He thought he had made peace with Kal's decision but, biting remarks like that brought up his own internal war on the subject all over again. One death in exchange for saving trillions upon trillions of lives seemed like it would've been an easy call to make. Especially considering Zero alternated quite often between hating and loving him depending on the way the wind blew. On the other hand, Kal could say the same thing about the choice he made on Torfan. Love was something that said fuck you to logic on a regular basis and he needed to realize everyone made mistakes.

Garrus called after a disappearing Saren with an angry huff, "That is not fair and you know it Saren!"

Kal held up a hand to stop him from yelling, "Even if he did the same thing for you it doesn't make it not fair..just hypocritical. We both did something wrong and need to make up for it." 

Garrus was about to continue arguing when Jack pointed to the door, "Go after him and make sure he comes back." When Garrus was lost for words Jack continued, "I need someone to make sure they don't die out there while getting the code."

As Garrus left, Griff stormed in with an angry expression on his face, "Why the hell are we going to the Viper Nebula Relay Miranda?!"

The Viper Nebula, a name that had been coming up again and again in his quest to defeat the Reapers. At first, it had seemed like it was just a coincidence Legion had found Sovereign's "remains" in the same part of Batarian Space the Andromeda Initiative was going through. Then it was a little more concerning the signal used to restart the cycle just so happened to also be flying through the Viper Nebula Relay on it's way to dark space. Now that they too were apparently heading there with only seventy two hours left to do something related to stopping the Reapers, Jack was convinced the Initiative had something to do with the Reapers. If he had known that when it first came up, he wouldn't have been ok with Mandaria and Sid going there by themselves to stop Cora. It was too late now though, the Turians were already millions of miles away and in cryo pods, probably not set to wake up until after his great grandkids were long gone. There was no point dwelling on something he would never have any opportunity to fix.

Miranda had an impatient tone, "I was just getting to that. Shepard, while I was with the Broker he informed me he sent a team to learn more about the signal that the Collector Satellite released. They discovered the Reapers were about to come through the Viper Relay within the next week. That was several days ago and by Glyph's estimates we have seventy two hours left."

Any color that had been on his face vanished when that news hit him like a thousand pound anvil. He knew the Reapers weren't going to just sit on their hands and wait for the right moment, he just had no idea they were going to be able to mobilize that quickly. No wonder Saren had wanted to leave for the Perseus Veil as fast as possible, they were going to get the code while the Reapers were killing people. Would Legion and Rael be able to come up with a delivery system at all now? Was the trip just a pointless attempt just for Saren to feel like he was doing anything to help? Kal's reaction to the news was just as devastating, he sunk into a nearby chair and cupped his mouthpiece with one hand. However, Jack would've felt a lot worse if it wasn't for Miranda appearing seemingly confident they could still stop this if they tried.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Seventy two hours left to do what Miranda?"

Her face suddenly turned more grim as if she was preparing for an argument while pulling up a map of an unfamiliar solar system to their omni tools, "This is the Viper Relay is stationed. You should take note that the second largest colony for the Batarian Hegemony, Arahoht, is within the same star system. In seventy two hours they will all be dead, no matter what we do but, we can save the rest of the galaxy if we act now."

Jack didn't like the sound of that already, "Just, tell me the plan Miranda. We don't have time for you sugar coating this."

She sighed zooming in on the familiar sight of an asteroid with engines strapped to the back of it, "Meet Asteroid X99, the Shadow Broker intended to drive it into the Viper Relay. It's not a perfect solution but, it would cut the Reapers off at the other end of the Relay giving us more time to come up with a way to stop them more permanently."

Griff's tone was full of fury before Jack could say anything, "Absolutely not! Do you know how many lives you would kill by doing something like that?!"

Jack didn't need an explanation from her about what Griff was accusing her of because he could do the math himself. Each Mass Relay was powered by tons and tons of radioactive eezo that in large doses was lethal. Allowing that to spread throughout a solar system would certainly kill every single Batarian on the planet in a slow and painful fashion. At the same time though, Miranda was right in her assumption that they were probably going to die in just the same way at the hands of the Reapers. There was no winning in this situation, they couldn't wait on Saren and Legion to come up with a miracle and the Council wasn't going to rally every ship they had to defend a Batarian planet. He doubted that the Council would believe the Reapers existed even when they would inevitably invade their own homeworlds.

Miranda had a cold tone when she answered with, "I didn't think you would care anymore about any of them after what happened with your family."

That attitude didn't help Griff's mood any, "What the fuck happened to you down there to turn you into such a cold hearted bitch while I was gone? We're literally talking about the potential genocide of millions here!"

Jack held up a hand to stop the argument, "Why don't we just contact the Hegemony and request they evacuate Arahoht immediately? That way we save as many people as possible and still stop the Reapers."

Miranda stared at him as though he was a fool, "Do you honestly think the Hegemony would listen to any of us? Me and Griff are Cerberus terrorists while you two are veterans of the Skillyian Blitz."

Kal finally added from his seat, "It wouldn't matter if we managed to evacuate Arahoht anyways. The Viper Relay is the only way in or out of Batarian Space. We destroy it and we cut off supplies for the entire Batarian population."

The full weight of what Miranda was asking him to do made him rest his palms on the conference room table. Not only would he be subjecting Arahoht to death by radiation but, he was also going to be sentencing every other Batarian staying near their home to death. And while it was no secret he went to war with the Batarians during the Blitz, he didn't want to kill all of them. That kind of action would make the title of butcherer of Torfan look like a cute drop of blood in a pond compared to what Miranda was suggesting. Then again, what choice did they have now? Because of what Kal had done, they were going to have to take dramatic stepc to save the galaxy. He needed time to think of something, anything that would get him out of going along with this plan and came up with nothing.

He took a deep breath, "Keep the present course to that asteroid... I'm going to be in my cabin to think..." Kal getting up to join him was a blessing and a curse right now.

Griff was getting ready to follow him and Kal but Miranda stopped him, she knew better than anyone he was going to need all of the travel time working up the courage to do this.


	14. Chapter 13: Trip to the Viper

The elevator ride back to their old cabin was a quiet one with both of them obviously having a lot on their minds. Jack didn't want to be responsible for the deaths of a majority of the Batarian population, but what choice did they have? If they merely warned the Batarians what was coming, they would get laughed out of the Viper Nebula like every other time he tried to warn anyone about the Reapers except this time they couldn't afford to wait. Once the Reaper army had a chance to hit a single Mass Relay, they could hit any other system with a mere snap of their overly large fingers. Earth, the Citadel, Palaven, absolutely nowhere would be safe and he was sure they would attack each system to overwhelm any of the local defense forces. That wasn't even considering the fact that the Alliance fleet was far away from Earth because they were at war with the Terminus. It would be a slaughter no matter what he did so what was the number of deaths he would be comfortable with on his hands?

Kal's voice pulled him out of his thoughts as the door opened, "Are you ready to more honestly talk about what happened on the Collector Satellite now?"

He knew this conversation was coming given the fact that Kal's actions had ultimately resulted in their current situation but, something about the way he said that made him tilt his head. Did Kal not believe he was honest when he said he still loved him despite what happened? It definitely hadn't been a lie, after everything they had been through how could Jack not still love Kal? He had to do what he thought was right and hadn't thought about the consequences involved in his decision. Jack wasn't any better when he listened to Balak and fired on the Einstein just to save Kal, the scale this time had just been bigger. How could he make Kal understand more clearly that for the most part he was angry with the circumstances they were in right now and not him specifically?

Jack decided to just give him a curious expression, "What do you mean by 'honestly' Kal? I told you what I thought the minute we saw each other again."

To his surprise Kal actually sounded a little angry, "No, you said what you had to in front of the Alliance's security cameras to present a united front. Don't keep pretending this is normal."

Jack stepped out of the elevator to look Kal in the eye, "I'm not pretending this is normal! Thank God contemplating the genocide of an entire species isn't a normal day for us. I'm just not going to yell at you every chance I get because it already happened. You saved Zero and now the Reapers are coming, we can't change any of that."

Kal just stared at him, "But don't you wish I would've let her go? We wouldn't be right now if I wasn't selfish, if I could've just let her die."

Jack reached out a hand to touch the side of his helmet, "You have no idea if you could've actually stopped Leng even if you let her go. I seem to remember he was kicking your ass all throughout that fight beforehand."

Kal pulled away from the touch, "Jack.. I need you to blame me, I need you to be angry with what I did. I'm responsible for the deaths of millions because of my actions, you can't just ignore that because you want to."

There was a part of him that understood Kal's need to take responsibility over what happened. Not only was thinking for the group instead of yourself drilled into you as a Quarian from the time they were tiny but, Kal's training as a marine made selfish behavior seem deadly. Jack could sit there and yell at him, call him names, tell him that he was the reason the Batarians were going to die. What would that truly accomplish? From his perspective, it would only harm their relationship at a time when they needed each other. They should be talking about what they were going to do if they failed to send the asteroid into the Relay, not dwell on what got them here. Because the truth was Jack had made just as many bad decisions to get them here as Kal's choice on the satellite. He could sit here all day discussing the what ifs with Kal, he just didn't see how that could be more productive than just moving on and accepting that was the decision Kal made.

Jack frowned and took a deep breath, "Miranda's right though, those Batarians will be dead no matter what we decide to do. You had no idea that was what would happen if you didn't stop him."

Kal cut him off, "He gave me the choice Jack, I knew exactly what the Reapers were capable of and I chose Zero. Keelah, I'm going to kill all those people because I wanted to be a good father..."

Jack wanted to comfort him but knew that was the wrong approach, "If you could go back would you let Zero go?"

Kal shook his head almost immediately, "Absolutely not, she deserves someone who will protect her no matter what.. It's what I deserved on the flotila. I would've tried harder to do both, if I just had more time.."

He took both of Kal's hands gently, "That's what makes you different from Saren and it's why I love you. Saren is willing to sacrifice everything that makes him a good person just for the sake of the mission. You made a mistake, but you aren't going to throw away what makes you, well, you to get the job done."

Kal looked at their hands and then back up to his eyes, "I.. I need you to tell me the truth, do you wish I would've let her go?"

That was a trick question if he had ever seen one. His first automatic answer would be no but, that wasn't the honest truth. It was true Zero meant a lot to them both and she had been growing to trust them, unfortunately, he didn't know if he was willing to sacrifice the entire galaxy for her. The first time they met she destroyed an entire Blue Suns space station in a biotic fit of rage. While it wasn't her fault given her background, she had the potential to be extremely dangerous to a lot of people if they made her angry. Was someone like that worth saving just because she had a good heart buried below her anger? In peacetime Jack would've said yes and focused on getting her help, however they weren't living through a peaceful period. He couldn't even imagine how powerful of a Reaper agent she would be if she was indoctrinated. Was that enough justification to just let her die though? No, it wasn't but Jack was conflicted hearing an imaginary Saren in his ear telling him it was.

Jack did his best to try and put his thoughts into words, "I don't know Kal.. Sometimes I do and other times I don't. I just know she could be dangerous if we aren't there for her and we aren't going to be for awhile. I might have let her die..."

Kal's tone took a bitter edge but he nodded, "You know, you aren't that much different from Saren. The fact you think she's dangerous enough to maybe deserve to die even though it isn't her fault is just how Saren thinks."

He could feel the sting from how true that comment probably was, "Kal...you know I care about her just as much as you do right? I just don't know if we're the best possible pa-"

Kal cut him off, "Thank you for the honesty Jack. I'll get over this, I'm just going to need some space. Just a little while I process everything, I promise."

Maybe he should've said something else to make Kal feel better. Thinking about it though, Jack knew telling him that hard messy truth now was better for the long term. If they could get past Torfan, Omega, and Sovereign, they would be able to eventually move forward as a family. In the immediate silence following Kal's words, Jack looked around to see what Leng may have done to the room while they were gone. Other than having a more military standard twin sized bed in the middle of the room, nothing had changed. He even saw the usually empty fish tank lining the left side of the room now had water and a few fish swimming around in wide circles. Jack didn't want to dwell on the discovery he and Leng had similar coping methods and instead grabbed a box of the food on the bedside table before sprinkling just a little in the tank.

His voice was almost a whisper as he spoke to the fish, "I don't know if the last guy fed you much but, I'm a fishy expert. You'll be in good hands now, at least for the next few days."

Kal let out a chuckle, "If I knew you were a fishy expert I would've bought you some sooner. I just thought you were a fan of looking at them in the zoo."

Jack forced a smile back to him, "Having a pet is therapeutic according to all of the psychologists I've talked to over the years. Helps you focus on something you can take care of in a bad situation."

Kal's tone was curious now sounding surprised by the news, "You never told me you talked to someone. When was this?"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly as though everything was sort of normal, "When I turned nineteen my Mom made me talk to someone so I wouldn't keep dragging Akuze around with me everywhere I went. Then I started going again after Torfan."

He never said anything about his psychologist because of Torfan. Kal didn't need to know the events on that moon had shook him just as badly. At the time the Quarian wouldn't have cared, blaming him for everything that happened. And after they reunited because of Balak, Jack just didn't see it as a relevant point of conversation. Jack also didn't want the sympathy card that kind of statement usually solicited from anyone. His problems with Akuze and the Skillyian Blitz were his own to work through. They had bigger things they needed to worry about now, like coming to terms with the fact they were about to commit genocide on a massive scale. At the very least Jack knew they could kiss their deal with the Alliance goodbye, there was no way they were ever going to walk free again after almost guaranteeing the Batarians would be a dead species tomorrow. No matter what he said about his motivations, everyone would see this as revenge for the Blitz and only make the current war in the Terminus worse.

Kal was about to reach out and grab his shoulder when the elevator door opened signalling Liara's entrance, "I hope I wasn't interrupting a moment between the two of you?"

Jack shook his head turning away from the fish tank to face her, "We just finished talking about everything. I'm guessing you found something inside Glyph's files?"

Liara toyed with her hands awkwardly while glancing at them, "I..I might have. I know it's been some time but, do the two of you remember what the Collectors were doing on Horizon? Specifically."

Kal was the first to speak, "Doing what they always did Liara, collecting enough organic material so they could eventually power their satellite and contact the Reapers. Why?"

Jack thought back to Horizon shaking his head, "No, not quite... They seemed to be trying to extract a part of the colony out of the ground with their ship's tractor beam, almost as if the colonists were their secondary objective there. The Illusive Man even speculated the Protheans had a weapon under ground but said it would take years to get to it."

Liara bit her lip mumbling to herself for a moment, "That would certainly make sense... I'm sorry it's just I may have found something that could help. According to the Shadow Broker, there is a key to all the Protheans vaults scattered across the galaxy like the ones we've seen on Feros, Virmire, Mars, Therum, and Ilos."

Kal put up a hand to stop her, "We've been inside all of those facilities Liara, why would we need a key to get in?"

She sighed impatiently, her mind obviously moving a mile a minute. "Yes but that was because they were above ground and had access points for maintenance workers. Supposedly there are other locked vaults like the one on Horizon. Vaults where the Protheans placed things to prepare the next cycle for the inevitable war with the Reapers."

His first instinct was to say it was wishful thinking on her part and to let it go. After all, it was no secret that the Protheans lost their war with the Reapers. If they had a potential way to defeat the Reapers, why wouldn't they take it to save themselves? However, he remembered that the Protheans were thinking far ahead close to their end. Victory, the VI they talked with on Ilos, had been placed there for the specific purpose of informing future cycles Sovereign used the Citadel as a way to bring the rest of the Reapers to the Milky Way. So while there was a history of it, he didn't understand why Victory wouldn't have told them about the supposed weapon when they were talking. Wouldn't he have wanted them to have a plan B just in case they weren't able to stop Sovereign at the Citadel? Then again, according to Victory every other cycle had been defeated at the Citadel so why bother telling them something that wouldn't have been useful in that moment? It was definitely a long shot but, Jack wasn't prepared to put down her hopes just yet.

Jack gave her a smirk, "Like Victory on Ilos.. You think we'll be able to find something in a vault that could help us? Do you know where the key might be?"

Liara sighed seemingly a little defeated, "Yes and no. The Shadow Broker was adamant it was somewhere in the Mars Archives. He was spending most of his resources at the end trying to infiltrate the Alliance personnel there. You and I both know Humanity has spent the better part of a hundred years studying Mars though. If there was a sort of master key, I feel like they would've found it by now."

Jack started pacing around the cabin feeling like she was probably right, "If it's a physical key I guarantee you'd be right, we practically have a science team living there since it's so close to Earth."

Kal spoke up again, "What if it isn't something physical? Quarian pilgrims don't have a physical key to get back to the flotila, they use a song.. It's usually something important to that particular pilgrim so they never forget it."

Liara nodded emphatically, "Yes, that's the only thing I can think of. Prothean culture isn't of much interest to your scientists and what we'd be looking for isn't labeled as a key most likely. If any of this is true I have to believe that's our way in."

Jack knew it made sense but, he was still a little hesitant, "If your asking for our help to get into the Archives, I don't think we're going to be able to help soon enough. No way the Alliance leaves the destruction of a Mass Relay unpunished."

Her face had a worried, dark expression to it, "I know, which is why I feel awful asking you this but, do you mind if I use one of the Normandy's escape pods to leave now? I already have the Shadow Broker connections to get me inside, I just need transportation. And... I know that if you survive the Alliance will detain everyone on the ship permanently. I can't afford that knowing we could potentially be on the cusp of an answer that could help the galaxy."

On the one hand, it was a little upsetting another member of the crew was leaving them for their own mission. Saren, Legion, and Garrus would have surely been a big help taking over the asteroid regardless of how important their own mission was. On the other hand, how much help could Liara really give them? She was always a huge help with her biotic skills yet Thane and Miranda would have that covered on the asteroid. Watching her fighting on top of the Shadow Broker's ship also made it clear that while she had improved significantly in the past two years, Liara still didn't have the combat reliability in the same vein of even Tali for example. It was better this way anyways, no matter what happened with their mission he would now be sure someone besides Saren was doing something to stop the Reapers.

Jack bowed his head symbolically giving her his blessing, "Go ahead, just be careful Liara.. I have a feeling we aren't going to be around for awhile to get you out of trouble again."

She moved to hug each of them individually, "I will, and if the prison your in allows it, I'll be sure to send you both letters on my progress in the Archives."

Kal stopped her before she fully reached the elevator, "Liara, I know your going to be busy looking for that key but, would you use Glyph to keep an eye on Zero at the Grissom Academy? I would if I could from prison, knowing Ashley though we're going to be very isolated from the world."

She gave him a sympathetic smile, "Of course Kal. And Jack? Just be careful, there's no guarantee this will actually work or the consequences it might have.."

Jack let out a dark chuckle as the elevator door started to close, "Besides the obvious consequence of bringing the Batarians to extinction? We'll be fine, see you on the other side."

Kal slumped on the edge of the small bed, "Well that was a cheery potential goodbye wasn't it?"

Jack laughed lightly from the clear sarcasm, "It could be worse, she didn't give us the percentage probability of how likely it is we're going to die a horrific death."

Kal's voice had a solemn darkness to it, "Because that's inevitable Jack. It's just a question of whether or not we're going to go out committing a war crime of the ages or get taken out in an Alliance firing squad."

There was a part of Jack that wanted to tell Kal everything was going to be ok and they were going to make it through this. The problem was Jack wouldn't believe that if Kal was the one saying it to him so why should he bother lying when it wasn't going to be believable? In the current state of their relationship, Kal might even get offended if Jack tried to push that kind of lie on him. With all of that said, Jack refused to have potentially the last few hours he would get to share with Kal in this life ruined by being hopeless. This wasn't the first time the two of them found themselves against the wall only to pull out a miracle in the last second. He just had to figure out the best way to express that without looking like he was merely trying to sugarcoat a bad situation.

Jack sat across from him on the couch giving him a little space, "You remember telling me about the promise you made to Erash?"

Kal snorted sadly before looking down, "Retirement on the beach with a few kids? I don't think that's going to happen now Jack."

He gave Kal a serious stare, "Hey, look at me." When Kal ultimately did he continued, "I know it might seem like we aren't going to make that happen. I'm just going to say I will keep doing everything in my power to make sure that it does. Zero, you, me, we deserve a happy ending on that beach."

They shared a look only for Miranda to come storming out of the elevator, "Shepard, we need to talk."

Out of all the times Miranda hadn't wanted to tell him anything about anything, she chose now as the best time. While he was frustrated with the inconvenient timing, she was right that they needed to have a more in depth conversation discussing the Cerberus-Lazarus split. Discovering as much as he could about the conflict was the real reason they were out here in the first place, Feron had just been the assumed best way to get at that information. Sure, the Alliance was going to sentence them to death no matter what they had to say because of what they were about to do but, following through in their end of the deal couldn't hurt right? The question became whether or not Miranda was going to tell the actual truth or just frame it in whatever way that would make her look better. She had to be already coming up with a way to get out of any jail time personally, it was just how her mind worked.

Jack relaxed back on the couch and motioned for her to stand between them, "Alright, we're all ears. What did you want to talk about?"

She put her hands behind her back showcasing the fact that her professionalism had taken over, "I might have not told you the whole truth about what happened at The Illusive Man's base and wanted to clear the air before it could negatively effect the mission."

Kal rubbed the back of his neck and had a sarcastic tone, "When have you ever been completely honest the first time with us about anything Miranda?"

Jack held up a hand before it could turn into an argument, "Just tell us what you want to say. It's already been a long couple of weeks for all of us and I think getting to the point would be easiest."

Miranda stood straight trying not to show any weakness, "I told you originally that I left Feron and the base without knowing what Leng did to Feron, that's only partially true. Before everything went to hell, Cora revealed she killed her father shortly after Noveria. The Illusive Man the two of you talked to was actually an ancestor VI similar to Rael'Zorah inside Legion."

The revelation surprised him immediately, however, it didn't make a whole lot of sense. During his working relationship with Cerberus, The Illusive Man had made several moves against Cora to get Jack on his side. He had even gone so far as to hire bounty hunters to go after her following their encounter on Illium. Why would he do something like that if he was really just being programmed by Cora the entire time? Plus, why would Cerberus work so hard to defeat the Collectors if Cora was working with them from the beginning? At the same time, Miranda had nothing to gain from that particular lie. Saying The Illusive Man was dead for two years changed nothing with her own situation. In fact, saying she was tricked into working with a fake version of the man she saw as a father figure for two years actually made her appear to be easily manipulated, something Miranda wouldn't open herself up to. She was telling the truth as best she knew but, he wasn't sure if she had the whole picture.

Kal spoke for him, "What about Zaeed then? Was he made up too?"

Miranda didn't show any offense to his skepticism, "I've thought about that a lot and the only thing I can come up with is that she gave him a degree of independence. According to Legion, ancestor VI's start to malfunction if they believe their host is dead. Rael thinks the real Quarian version of himself is still out there and he's just a convenient copy for the time being. What if Cora instead tried to trick the VI that it was the real Illusive Man? It would explain him going against her and allow her to have a back door into Cerberus intelligence whenever she wanted."

Jack stroked his chin mulling it over, "I suppose that makes sense. I'm guessing that came out somehow and that's what caused the split?"

Miranda was refusing to make eye contact with either of them, "It came out because I killed the VI thinking it would maybe save Feron... I left him after that and you saw what happened to him now."

His eyebrows shot up, "Did you know it was a VI? Or did you think you were actually killing The Illusive Man to save Feron?" Maybe he underestimated just how much she cared about Feron after all, "And why are you telling us this? I don't see how his death effects our fight with the Reapers?"

She ignored the first question basically confirming his suspicions, "When Feron first woke up in the Shadow Broker's ship, he showed me a recording of what happened immediately after I...left Feron. Apparently Cora believes something that will allow her to kill all aliens is in the Andromeda galaxy, hence the Initiative. Knowing now that the Reapers are coming from the same place that the Initiative is leaving from my only theory is that it has to be Reaper related. I don't have any confirmation but, I have a feeling the Forge that Sovereign mentioned on Horizon is out there. And Cora's going to try and take control of it."

Jack remembered worrying about the Forge more than anyone else when Sovereign first mentioned it. Why wouldn't he be a little worried a way for the Reapers to repair past damage quickly? When they uncovered more about Sovereign and what was behind the Omega-4 Relay, Jack began to assume the Forge was a myth created by whoever built the Reapers in order to keep them from fearing death. Now he wasn't sure again with Miranda throwing out that theory. If Rael was so confident they could convince the Reapers to self destruct through code, what was stopping Cora from being able to manipulate the code in another way? Once again he had second thoughts about just letting Mandaria and her sister go alone because it was convenient. There was no way they were going to be able to stop that kind of plot if the entire Initiative staff was behind it.

He groaned lightly adding it to the list of problems he had no control over, "How are we going to stop her if we're all the way here and she's wherever she is now?"

Miranda had a determined expression splashed across her face, "We need another ark to go after her and stop her once we're done with the first wave."

Jack and Kal looked at each other, "...First wave...?"

Miranda ran her fingers through her hair, "If we assume the Forge Sovereign mentioned is real and if we assume that's where Cora is going.. We have to assume her intention would be to build more Reapers to send them back to the Milky Way to finish the job. Depending on how long it takes to travel between galaxies and how long it would take for Cora to activate the Forge, we're talking about your grandchildrens generation having to deal with another Reaper invasion. Assuming we beat this first invasion that is. Regardless of whether or not this is me just worrying or an actual problem, we need more than two Turians on the ground willing to stop her."

Jack stood up and stared at the the fish tank to think, "Our place is here Miranda, I won't abandon the Milky Way where only my crew believes the Reapers exist based on a hunch of yours."

Miranda put a hand on her hip seemingly frustrated, "I'm not asking you to, at least not yet. All I'm asking for is your help getting me access to the best ship builders in the galaxy. I have blueprints for the arks I think they could replicate."

Kal folded his arms over his chest, "The last time you stepped on to the flotila you destroyed one of our liveships. Even if I had a good relationship with them, which I don't, I wouldn't be able to get you in no matter what I said."

She moved to stand directly in front of him at the edge of the bed, "You can let me record you saying your own password for entrance. Your father will want to see you again and will talk to me."

Kal gave Jack a questioning glance so he just shrugged, "It's your choice. I think it's a little early to be worrying about a second Reaper invasion but, what she said so far makes sense to me."

The Quarian drooped a little before taking a deep breath so he could sing, "Sing me to sleep on the starry sea, and I'll dream through the night of my suit and me. I won't fear the heat of a desert breeze, or contaminants high in the jungle trees. Even in space I shall never freeze. Because I've got my suit, and my suit's got me. Oh, I love my mother who holds me tight, and I love my father who taught me right. Oh, I love my ship sailing strong through the night, and I love the homeworld for which we fight. But what do I love like a lock loves a key? What holds fast my heart, head, shoulders, and knees? I love my suit and my suit loves me. When I grow up I shall have a house in the sun, on my true homeworld, where the wild rivers run. I'll plant flowers in soil where now there are none, and there'll be plenty of room for everyone. But till I see Rannoch with my very own eyes, and kiss the sweet ground where my ancestors lie. We'll sleep safe as engines as forward we fly. My self and my suit. My suit and I."

Miranda ended the recording with a smile, "Thank you Kal, I'm sure that'll be just what I need to get inside."

As she started for the elevator door Kal called after her, "My father will kill you when he finds out you lied to him. He isn't the type of man to forgive easily."

She shrugged as the elevator doors started to close yet again, "Then its a good thing I know how to deal with fathers who are constantly chasing for perfection from their kids. Don't worry about me, you need to worry about the two of you."


	15. Chapter 14: Difficult Decisions Are Ahead....

The night had been short and awkward for the two of them. If they had been in a better place, Kal was sure he and Jack would've slept together, probably roughly, as an affirmation of the feelings they shared. However, the way Jack had waffled on whether or not he would have let Zero die by Leng's hand just left a bad taste in his mouth. It wasn't that he didn't understand Jack's answer, Zero definitely had her dark side and was more than willing to show it if you crossed her, he just didn't agree with his assumption she might not be worth keeping around because of it. He would get over this, now just wasn't the time for passionate love making. That being said, Kal ultimately crawled on top of Jack once he was asleep not wanting to be alone in what was potentially his last night alive.

It was true that the two of them had been in similar situations several times over but, this felt different. The Citadel, the Collector Satellite, even Torfan didn't have the possibility of causing mass genocide even if they succeeded. Kal couldn't get over the fact that they were about to doom the entire Batarian race because of something he did. Wasn't there a second option for them to stop the Reapers yet still keep the Batarians alive? What if they just turned off the Viper Relay until they were sure the Reapers flew past their end in the Andromeda galaxy only to turn it back on again. He was tempted to make that suggestion to Jack only to remember what his husband told him about Ilos. According to the VI there, the Reapers had the power to turn Mass Relays on and off again whenever they wanted. Without a guarantee they could keep the Relay off long enough for the Reapers to decide to make the journey through dark space, it was irresponsible to go with that plan. Despite hating what Miranda and what the original Shadow Broker had come up with, he didn't see another option that saved everyone.

Griff's rough, clearly upset voice came to them through the intercom only a few hours after they went to sleep, "Hey you psychopaths need to wake up. We'll be entering the Arahoht system in a few minutes."

He couldn't even begin to imagine what Griff had to be going through right now. Even though he was apparently not on good terms with his family if Miranda was to be believed, no one would actively want to help someone else exterminate their entire species. Saren had agreed to work with Sovereign only on the condition that the Turians would be saved, even during the early stages of his indoctrination. Plus, Kal knew he would do anything he could to save the Migrant Fleet no matter what his father's actions were when he was a child. It was only natural for someone to want to save their own culture before anyone else's. The chances of Griff turning against them to save his species was going to be extremely high given everything he was probably going through right now. His hope was that they would be ready for it and it didn't happen at the worst possible second. Maybe Miranda or Thane were best positioned on the ship to make sure something like that could be stopped quickly.

If Jack was surprised by Kal laying on top of him, he didn't display it in his voice. "Thank you, and Griff..?" When the Batarian inevitably asked what Jack continued, "I hope you realize this is the only way we're going to be able to save any lives now. If there was another option I would've taken it."

Griff sounded frustrated on his end of the intercom, "Yeah whatever, just get down here before I change my mind..."

Kal rolled off of the couch so Jack could get up as well, "I'm worried he's going to try something stupid to stop us. If we were in his position, wouldn't we do something reckless when we thought no one was looking?"

Jack ran a hand across his face with a sigh, "Yeah we would but, we don't have time to talk to him about the details of a Reaper invasion. We're just going to have to hope Miranda surrounds herself with people like her."

Kal went inside the bathroom to splash his tired face with water, "He called us psychopaths Jack, I don't think he has the same focus on the mission that she usually does."

Jack had a frown on his face looking at him through the mirror, "I know it's just, we can't worry about what he's going to do. We have enough on our plate as it is." He paused when they switched places before nervously adding, "I hope I made a comfortable bed for you on the couch? I would've just joined you in bed but I was giving you space."

Kal made sure to smile before putting his helmet back on, "You always make me more cozy sleeping. Whether it's in a luxury Cerberus bed or, the frozen tundra. I thought that space could wait just a little while, like when we're awaiting sentencing for what we're about to go do right now."

Jack couldn't stop himself from laughing at his bad joke, "I personally enjoyed the rock slab that the Alliance called a bed on the Everest the best because you made it so much softer. Come on, we better not keep anyone waiting any longer."

The two of them held hands and went down on the elevator to face their fate. Kal felt the sense that nothing had changed in the last few months when he saw Cerberus staff making themselves busy all around the command deck. It almost made him forget the fact that the Collectors had managed to take the original Cerberus crew as part of their twisted experiments. While he certainly didn't miss most of the racist bosh'tets, he had to wonder how different of a situation they would be in if Legion hadn't called out to the Collectors. Zero wouldn't have been captured and as a result Leng wouldn't have been able to tempt him to save her on the Satellite. He had to stop thinking like that, blaming Legion for his mistake wasn't going to help anyone no matter how convenient it was. The sight of a meek, red headed, Human female arguing with Thane brought him back to the present.

Thane brought up a hand to stop her from talking, "I appreciate the concern miss Chambers, however, I don't need to wear armor. It will merely slow me down."

Chambers was holding a spare set of Phantom Knight armor in her arms, "With your Kepral's disease potentially still in your body I think it would be a good idea to put this on. I promise it is lightweight and can monitor your vitals for you."

Jack jumped into the conversation clearing his throat with a smile, "You didn't see Thane on the Shadow Broker's ship ma'am, I think his Kepral's isn't something we have to worry about anytime soon."

She almost dropped the armor at the sound of his voice, "Oh Commander, I apologize for not seeing you come down. I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers, I am...was part of Doctor Gavin Archer's team looking into how the Geth were originally created all those years ago. I was just concerned with our Drell friends safety here as we're going into a hot zone."

Thane put his arms behind his back looking between the two of them, "I am well aware of the potential dangers we face on the surface of that asteroid, I'm just more confident in facing them without something like armor weighing me down."

She was going to protest when Jack interrupted her again, "If it makes you feel any better Yeoman, I'd be more than happy to take that armor off of your hands. I don't have any for myself at the moment."

Kelly let out a defeated huff before turning to face him, "Of course, it's not going to be as strong as the palladium your used to Commander but, it will be a lot better than a t-shirt or a jacket. I think Leng left one last set in the cargo hold if you want it Kal?"

Kal shook his head tapping at his suit, "It might not look like much but, this has everything I need to keep me alive far more than a Human armor set, no offense."

Kelly bowed her head to him with a shy expression, "I understand, it must be hard to work with people that have done so much harm to the fleet. Rest assured, I'm not like the people of Lazarus, otherwise I wouldn't have accepted Miranda's offer to join her and keep Cerberus going... Even if it is a lot smaller now..."

Jack gave her an understanding nod, "We appreciate the concern, this just isn't our first time fighting in a hot zone." His face turned to glance at Kal and Thane, "I'm going to go change into this armor, you two see if Miranda has put a plan together yet."

He and Thane followed orders heading towards the cockpit where Miranda and Griff were waiting for them. Kal had expected the Viper Nebula to be as beautiful as the Veil or at least the Widow Nebula given it's name. However, the galaxy seemed to have a cruel sense of humor regarding the Batarians at every turn. Instead of the bright vibrant colors that the Veil was known for, all Kal was looking at were dull gray and browns similar to the surface of Tuchanka. Releasing the eezo from the Relay would probably make each cloud of gas a neon blue for thousands of years. It would be a constant reminder to him and all the Shepards after him of the cost that went along with thinking of yourself instead of the galactic community. Maybe the fleet would make a rhyme dedicated to putting him down for being selfish. It wasn't the first time his father would have attempted to degrade him for who he was.

Miranda eyed them both casually while pulling up an image of the blueprints to X99, "Where's Shepard?"

Kal motioned to Kelly down the hall, "Your Yeoman gave him some Phantom Knight armor that he could use so he went to go change. He said to go ahead with the briefing and he'll catch up."

Her lips formed a thin line of impatience until ultimately she spoke, "Alright then, here's the blueprints Glyph managed to give me before he left with Liara. I'm sure it looks semi familiar to you Kal?"

The Quarian examined the image closely, "They're using a three engine set up just like X57 on Terra Nova... It looks, messier though, no living quarters, no security stations. This was a rushed job."

Miranda tilted her head back and forth sarcastically for a second or two, "That tends to happen when you only have about two weeks notice your going to have to ram an asteroid to the center eezo mass of a Relay. In his haste, the Shadow Broker chose a Human firm which caught the Batarian authorities attention and the entire team there is being questioned on who put them up to it."

Jack silently entered behind him patting his shoulder just to let him know he was there, "If the Batarian's are aware of the asteroid, why don't they just use one of their ships to blow it up?"

Miranda shrugged regarding him as though he was an employee late for work, "I can't get into their heads Shepard but, I'd guess its a combination of the fact that their ships are busy fighting Aria's war, and they're afraid fragments of the asteroid could damage the Relay anyways. Your going to have to fight your way through whatever presence they have down there and find the project lead. They'll be able to tell you where the mainframe is so you can drive the asteroid towards it's target."

Griff added reluctantly, "Then I pick the three of you up with the Normandy and we can watch the fireworks together from the next Relay over."

Kal made an attempt to look at him through the reflection of the viewport, "I'm sorry Griff, I didn't mean to cause this when I saved her. You have my promise that I'll bring back any Batarian with me that will listen."

Griff stared back at him in shock, "Wait a minute, this is all because of some fucking girl?! I thought you were gay...?"

Miranda shook her head at Kal with a disapproving glance, "No it's his adopted daughter..."

Griff's eyes narrowed as they headed towards the asteroid, "I hope she's the best daughter in the galaxy. Otherwise all this shit is utterly pointless."

Jack chuckled softly giving him a smirk, "With a mouth like that Griff, I'm sure you two would get along just fine."

Miranda seemed to bring the conversation back on track, "We're headed to the drop point, if there's nothing else?"

Thane's tone was serious and gloomy, "What about Feron?"

His first instinct was to ask how Feron was possibly relevant to their current mission only to stop himself. First of all, Kal couldn't imagine the pain Thane was going through losing his son like that. Just the thought of seeing an indoctrinated version of Zero anywhere made his stomach want to do back flips inside out. Thane should be allowed to bring up that pain whenever he wanted, especially with someone that cared about Feron on a personal level. Secondly, the fact that the indoctrinated Feron wanted to stop them from hitting the Relay with the asteroid made the question mission specific. Having not seen where Feron went, there was the possibility that he was on the asteroid waiting for the rest of them. It was definitely a legitimate question to ask since they were already dealing with the Batarians and the ticking clock of the Reaper's arrival. Miranda wasn't a miracle worker though, Kal doubted she was going to have any answers that he couldn't come up with himself.

Sure enough her answer was vague, "We don't even know if he got off of the Shadow Broker's ship. I wouldn't worry too much about him right now."

Thane was staring at the asteroid with a determined expression, "He's alive and down there. A father can feel when his son passes on beyond the sea, it hasn't happened yet."

Jack made sure there was a spare thermal clip in his pistol giving the two of them several spares as well, "If he is down there we'll deal with it. Miranda is right though, we need to focus on finding the project lead and then getting to the mainframe." He guided the two of them towards the airlock, "Griff, take us down and be ready for a hot pick up."

Griff grunted opening the airlock doors for them, "As long as you don't care about a few scratches I don't care how hot the pick up is... Good luck killing my people, your going to need it."

Stepping out on the asteroid's surface gave Kal a lot of memories, some of them were surprisingly decent. Even though he had come to them in the worst part of his life, Kate Bowman brought him in and made him a part of her family. In the beginning, he had wondered why she accepted a random Quarian exile into her home until he realized her son's father had died in a ship accident. She believed Kal was a good male figure in Aaron's life until she was ready to have a significant other again and she had been right. Aaron was so easy to make happy and he presumed the five and a half year old was a good test run for everything Zero made him feel. The trio would go from asteroid to asteroid saving lives, it had been a good way for him to keep his mind off of Jack in the six months they had been separated. Staring at the three engines before them, Kal had to wonder how the Bowman's had been doing these past two years while he was gone. When this was all over, he told himself he was going to reach out and see if they were ok.

Jack was keeping an eye out for Batarians to meet them at the landing bay but, they were met with silence, "Alright, Kal's our asteroid demolitions expert so I think it's best if he takes point. If you were a Batarian on this rock, where would you keep prisoners?"

That wasn't exactly true, he and Kate's team never actually destroyed an asteroid and instead guided them off a dangerous course. He let the assumption slide though because he had spent enough time in this type of operation to know how it worked. Still, it had been an understatement to describe this place as messy to Miranda. On the nearest engine to their left, Kal didn't even see standard equipment to cool the engines down in the case of an emergency. With this kind of set up it was hard to tell where the Shadow Broker's team was sleeping let alone where Batarians would have enough space to question everyone. Given the nature of the job it was understandable how things like entertainment halls could be missing but, living quarters just seemed too important to skip out on. Unless, what if they were underground as part of the engine structure? It would explain the lack of frankly necessary cooling equipment as well as how the Batarians wouldn't be able to see anything like a thriving population where they shouldn't be until it was too late.

Kal pointed to the engine closest to them, "If I'm right, there should be an elevator in all of these that'll take us to the actual base."

Jack's eyes gave him an, 'are you sure' face and when Kal gave him a thumbs up the three of them made their way towards the engine. He was a little shocked that the Batarians didn't have the asteroid more secure around the perimeter. If Miranda hadn't told them they were here, he just would've assumed the team was too busy with the actual operation and couldn't meet them. The Batarians must've really been putting everything they had into the war with the Alliance for Aria. Perhaps they felt like they owed her after what happened with Balak on Terra Nova, or they just wanted an excuse to have a rematch with Humanity. Whatever the reason was Kal reminded himself he shouldn't be complaining about their current luck. Sneaking into a base not knowing where you were going was a lot better than having to figure out the destination in the middle of a firefight.

He yanked the door to the engine open revealing a small lobby area with some tables and chairs that looked like had been dragged there from another area deeper in the facility. Two Batarians were sitting at the table holding a set of playing cards probably playing Skillyian Five. Getting the drop on them was definitely important but, Kal had to wonder why they seemed so relaxed. Shouldn't they be far more concerned that an asteroid was making it's way to the only Mass Relay they had for thousands of lightyears? The fact that they were so calm suggested two things to Kal. One, the Batarian government thought everything was under control meaning the asteroid's course had been altered. Secondly, the Batarians didn't expect whoever was responsible for coming up with the attack to have a back up team. If his first assumption was even just a little accurate, every second they wasted could be enough to reverse course permanently. The easiest thing to do right now would be to kill them, he promised Griff he would do anything he could to save as many Batarian lives as possible though. Instead of shooting them immediately, Jack and Kal merely pointed weapons at them.

The first Batarian jolted from his seat only to put his hands in the air, "What the hell is this?!"

Kal kept a calm tone despite his adrenaline thundering in his ears, "I know it's going to be hard for you to understand but, we're here to drive this asteroid into th-"

The other Batarian shouted violently, "You two were part of the Skillyian Blitz and now your here to finish the job!"

Jack was trying to placate the two Batarians with a calming tone, "This looks bad, I get it. Your just going to have to trust us that we're actually trying to help you right now. If you just go back to the Normandy I can explain everything in-"

A few gunshots rang out and they turned to see Thane had shot the two guards, "May you find an everlasting peace beyond the sea."

His head snapped around to stare at the Drell, "What in the kriff was that?! We were trying to convince them to come with us to safety, not kill them!"

Thane's voice had a logical slant while making his way to the elevator in the back of the room, "You are never going to be able to convince anyone that the genocide to their people is for the greater good. It's best not to waste time when we do not know when the Reapers could arrive."

Jack frowned but simply brushed Kal's arm whispering, "You tried..."

The trip down to the lower section of the base was a silent one as Kal thought over what Thane said. It wasn't that he didn't expect any violence at all during the mission, he had just wanted the opportunity to convince a few Batarians to come with them. He didn't want to think about the death of Batarian culture and society being on his hands. On the other hand though, what kind of life were the few hundred Batarians not in the Viper Nebula realistically going to have now? They weren't going to have enough genetic variety to support future generations so they were just going to have a much slower death. Putting them down wasn't Kal's first choice, unfortunately, if they had no intention on listening to them he would have no choice other than to kill them. He had a feeling Griff wasn't going to buy the fact he he tried to save some of the people here but, that didn't matter right now. His top priority was going to be figuring out where the Batarians were keeping the project lead.

Once the elevator door opened again, Kal realized they were dealing with a modular set up. Even though he hadn't been to this exact base ever before, the tunnel system on Terra Nova was developed by the same company meaning he had a better idea where they were than before. As they went further into the base Kal was starting to worry that too much of this place looked exactly how Kate set up their last job together. All of the personnel necessities were on the left side of any given hallway while equipment needed for their work was stationed on the right side. It was so similar that Kal was growing concerned Kate and her team were the ones responsible for putting this job together. He couldn't imagine two years ago Kate would've taken a job with the Shadow Broker, then again, it had been almost two and a half years since he last saw her. She probably wouldn't be able to fathom him being able to spend anytime on Omega either. Under the right circumstances anyone could be pushed into doing something they otherwise never do. His hope was that this time Aaron wasn't with her if she really was here, the kid didn't need to see any of this.

The three of them were stopped when a Batarian unexpectedly opened the door in front of them, "Ha your funny I'll be right back, I gotta go..oh shit gu-"

Kal and Jack pounced on him only to roll into the room he had come out of. Inside were four other Batarians who seemed to be watching a sports game going on in Khar'Shans capital city. The Batarian they got to the ground had a knife and tried to stab Jack with it only for the blade to bounce off his new armor. Jack shot the attacker in the head but, they had to quickly roll out of the way to avoid the rest of the group who were grabbing their weapons. Kal ducked behind a table to start exchanging fire with them only for Thane to enter the room. He used his biotics to twist one Batarian's arm to force him to shoot one of his friends only to slide under the table Kal was hiding behind. In a flash, Thane killed two of the Batarians with Jack getting the last one before he could leave the room.

Jack forced a smile looking down at his armor, "Well...at least we know this works now."

His joy died in his throat when he heard a Batarian outside say, "They wanted to slam an asteroid into the Mass Relay."

Thane shut the door to the room they were hiding in but, they could hear another Batarian ask suspiciously, "Can they even do that?"

The first Batarian chuckled, "No way it would have worked, Relays can’t be damaged, much less destroyed."

The second huffed with considerable irritation in his voice, "Those Humans will do anything to destroy us, I swear."

The first answered with a voice full of determination, "We have to make this one an example to the others. We can’t respond kindly to terrorists."

Kal rolled his eyes silently thinking of Balak when the second continued with, "What difference does it make? We caught ‘em."

A third Batarian seemed to catch up with them, "How did we catch these fuckers anyways? It's not like Arahoht has a bunch of telescopes laying around to notice an asteroid flying strangely."

The first Batarian sounded bored as he explained, "Our comm buoy intercepts paid off..... We picked up a message to Illium coming from somewhere in the asteroid belt. We listened to the feed until we discovered an operation run by a human named Kate Bowman, smuggling engine parts and guidance systems in to the system from Omega. We intercepted Bowman’s vessel and took her and her people into custody. Interrogation has produced nothing but frenzied rambling so far."

He closed his eyes trying to calm down his thundering heart from the revelation. Despite having suspected her involvement because of the nature of the base, Kal had still hoped for the best to keep her out of it. A part of him wondered why she would even sign up for this even though she had to know what such an action would do to the entire Batarian population. Had the Shadow Broker convinced her that the Reapers were real and this was the only way to stop them? Or was she in such a desperate need for credits for Aaron that she was willing to take any job no matter the ramifications to herself or others? Kal wanted to burst out of the room and demand to know where she was but, it was better to wait just a little longer. Not knowing they were being listened to meant these Batarians had the potential to tell them something else that could be important.

The second Batarian had a nonchalant tone when he said, "I’d just kill her. Interrogating a Human’s a waste of time."

The eager attitude rolling off of the first Batarian's voice made him sick, "Normally I'd agree with you but, she has a kid. We're just playing with him in the next room for now, isn't his fault his Mom is a psychopath. You bet your ass though that if she doesn't start talking, well... You know."

Kal knew what he should do in this instance, wait until the three of them to leave only to follow them to save Kate. His duty was to make sure the asteroid hit the Relay, nothing else. His heart was remembering babysitting Aaron for Kate, making his days better after the death of his father. After going through Balak's torture techniques on Torfan, he knew exactly what Aaron could go through in the next few minutes. Kal knew this was the exact same decision he made on the Satellite and this time he had the chance to make up for that mistake. His mind was racing with what Jack said to him just a few hours ago, "That's what makes you different from Saren and it's why I love you. Saren is willing to sacrifice everything that makes him a good person just for the sake of the mission. You made a mistake, but you aren't going to throw away what makes you, well, you to get the job done." He remembered Aaron rushing up to him after Balak had been dealt with. So innocent not really understanding what happened. Kal couldn't abandon them, not after everything they had done for him. He would take full responsibility if this went wrong, he just had to do something.

Without giving Jack or Thane a chance to stop him, Kal lunged through the door and pointed his gun at the first Batarian he could see, "How many of you are you going to make me kill before you tell me where the Humans are?!"


	16. Chapter 15: ... None Of Them Easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> House of Black and White - Ramin Djawadi. I know another game of thrones musical piece but I really think it fits this chapter!

Saren was sitting alone in the back of the Kodiak shuttle making it's way towards the Perseus Veil. Even with the three of them going, he knew it wasn't going to be easy. First of all, he was one handed making reloading almost impossible without some major adjustments to his tactics. Eventually, Saren was sure he would get used to using biotics on the thermal clips but, that change wasn't going to happen overnight. A part of him wanted to yell at Garrus for being so irresponsible. Did he really think he would've shot Kal risking Shepards total collapse at a time like this? Then again, he had killed that rather annoying Human minutes before that point so Garrus' fear was partly understandable. Things were so much simpler when Garrus was little and trusted him to make the right choice everytime. Those days went right out the window the moment they had their first confrontation on Therum.

Garrus left his seat in the cockpit to see Saren's wound in the main hold, "Will you let me put some more medi-gel on that? It looks like it's drying off and getting crusty."

He chuckled sarcastically shaking his head, "I didn't know you were suddenly a doctor Garrus. Maybe you could've used those talents sooner and not shot my hand off in the first place?"

Garrus glared at him clearly irritated by the sarcasm, "After you shot that guy in the trade center I had no idea how far you were going to go to make sure you completed the mission. Helping an Ardat-Yakshi and killing random civilians is something the indoctrinated version of you might do. I was worried about what you might do and acted on it."

Saren lifted a browplate questioningly, "Is that your version of an apology?"

Garrus had a hard tone, "No, I'm just explaining my reasoning. You were acting like an ass and I responded. What would you have liked me to do exactly?"

Saren took a deep breath resisting the urge to yell, "I want you to trust I'm on your side doing what's necessary to stop the Reapers. Something Shepard has seemed to forgotten in his quest to have a happy little family."

Garrus gritted his teeth obviously not wanting to talk about Shepard's actions, "Can I look at your wound or not?"

After a few seconds of deliberation, Saren extended his arm showing off the bloody stump of a hand. He shouldn't be fighting with Garrus, his younger brother had a good point. It was just in his nature to want to defend himself. To justify his decisions against what he saw as generally unfair criticism. If the Quarian hadn't inadvertently called the Reapers to them, he wouldn't have to go to drastic measures to save everyone in the galaxy. However, that line of thinking was what led him to working with Sovereign in the first place. Maybe he needed to listen to Garrus and own up to the fact that he was in the wrong. Had he really needed to kill that Human? Or had it just been a convenient way to release some of his anger at Humanity? Blind rage was just as dangerous to the mission as the inability to let go of the things you loved as Shepard displayed.

He watched Garrus get some spare medi-gel from a pouch in his armor, "You were right to question what I was doing, I'm sorry for letting my... fear of the Reapers cloud my judgement."

Garrus couldn't help but give him a little smile, "I'm not the only one you should be apologizing to but, it's a start. Now, this is going to sting a little."

His mind thought he was prepared for anything, that was until the 'sting' actually came. Unlike his application which had only coated the surface, Garrus managed to get the medi-gel deep inside the exposed flesh. Saren thought he had experienced the most painful moment in his life when he had the teenage Human girl snap off his fringe with her biotics to search for his control chip but, this was also going to be pretty high on the list. While the treatment was necessary, he still didn't have to enjoy the sensation that came along with medi-gel burning at his veins. Then, Garrus just had to put a gentle pressure on the stump with his own hand just to make sure the liquid settled inside of his wound instead of just on the surface. As the seconds ticked by with the pain only increasing, Saren was starting to regret his decision. How was he supposed to help Legion with the Processing Hub in this kind of pain? Then again, if they couldn't get in and out of the Hub without causing a shootout, they were going to be in a lot more trouble than his pain. There had to be a pretty good reason why the Quarian military thought it was too risky to come to one of these Hubs.

Just as he was about to physically make Garrus stop, Legion spoke up, "We have exited the Mass Relay network and can approach the Processing Hub at your leisure. With the Reapers coming any moment now, I suggest we hury."

Garrus started to make his way towards the cockpit satisfied with his application of medi-gel, "What exactly are we going to be dealing with Legion? Is the Hub just a bunch of servers or a military installation?"

Legion seemed somewhat distracted walking around the Kodiak slowly, "Without getting into detailed specifics that wouldn't help our mission, your first assumption has basic accuracy."

Rael ran a hand over the optical sensor sounding frustrated by the vague answer, "Picture each piece of the brain separately. The left and right cortex's, the stem, the neural pathways... Each of these pieces could be represented by one of the Processing Hubs for the Geth's collective brain, the largest being on Rannoch proper."

Saren tilted his head in a question, "If these places are so vital to the Geth, why haven't the Quarians made more of an effort to find them and destroy them in the last three hundred years? Wouldn't taking them down allow for the conquest of Rannoch?"

Rael replied sounding just a little hesitant, "We have thought about it, especially after the food shortages we've been experiencing lately. The problem is that each Hub is so well fortified that our losses might make an attack meaningless."

He was about to ask something else when what had to be the Hub caught the corner of his eye. Saren had just been expecting something blocky and small, why would the Geth care about making a piece of art? What he got was a long curved station reminiscent of a Quarian head with a 'hood' covering up any potential facial features. Why would the Geth honor their creators like this when they were the ones to rebel all those years ago? Maybe the pre indoctrinated Geth didn't have as much ill will towards the Quarians as was believed. Legion was even giving Rael access to it's own neural network despite having been experimented on, to the point of near death. His musings on the complex relationship between Quarians and the Geth was going to have to wait, they were getting close enough to the Hub to start being able to see weapon installations along the hull.

Garrus cleared his throat sounding nervous from the pilots chair, "You know it's just our heat emissions that are hidden, right? They can look out a window and see us coming. This thing isn't the Normandy, if we get shot at I'm not going to be able to get us out of danger easily."

Legion was too busy grabbing his rifle, "Windows are structural weaknesses. Geth do not use them. Approach the hull at these coordinates for the easiest possible infiltration."

Garrus slowly guided the Kodiak towards the coordinates Legion provided obviously worried about the weapons on the station. His own mind was trying to figure out how getting in and out was actually going to work. The plan was for Legion to enter the consensus physically through the mainframe in this Processing Hub and copy Reaper code. If Rael's theory was right, he could then mimick the coding language to order the Reapers to self destruct. The problem he saw that had the largest potential impact on the mission was whether or not Legion's invasion of the consensus would trigger other Geth in the area. Depending on how many Geth were stationed at this facility, they could be outnumbered a thousand to one. Legion could probably slip into their ranks the same way he had during the attack on the Citadel, unfortunately, they wouldn't have that kind of luxury as organics. Instincts from his years of service as a SPECTRE were telling him this mission was going to require a quick and dirty get away.

He put on his helmet approaching the door to the Kodiak, "Once we get inside we have to focus on getting to the main computer as fast as possible. There's no telling if the Reapers are going to be here by the time we leave this place."

Legion opened the door letting the vacuum of space begin to enter the tiny ship, "It will be imperative you follow my lead through the station. Geth architecture has very little similarity with contemporary organic counterparts."

His brothers helmeted tone sounded anxious, "I noticed you aren't telling us our percentage chance of success Legion. Is it really that bad or is it something you only tell somebody like Jack?"

Legion made the first move towards the hull of the station, "Your AI aboard the Normandy informed me that giving the crew numerical chances of success lowers the crews morale. As a result, I can only inform you that it is extremely low."

Rael decided to add, "His equations are placing it at 0.2% that everyone gets out of this alive. He's been wrong before though so I wouldn't put that much emphasis on it."

Saren gave Legion the fusion cutter while following him out to the exterior of the hub, "We don't have time to focus on hypotheticals. Let's just get this done and get out of here."

Even though he was confident in Legion's belief that none of the Geth were going to be able to see them out here, it was impossible not to feel exposed. No longer being in the Kodiak made him painfully aware of how many weapon systems could turn on the three of them and start firing. It didn't help that Legion was very slow going in his attempts to cut open a big enough hole for everyone to get inside with. A part of him just couldn't shake the feeling that their guide intentionally kept things at a snails pace. Rael would've told them if Legion was actively plotting against them for the Reapers since he had access to his brain. There was also the fact that Legion had been committed to stopping the Reapers from the very beginning so it made no sense for him to change his mind now. However, it didn't take a psychologist to see that something was definitely bothering him. Shepard was better at talking to people, maybe it would be a good idea to take him along on their next mission, if he survived his own that is.

Just as he was about to ask Legion what was wrong, the Geth finished opening the makeshift door inviting them inside. Saren was the first to take a step inside only to realize what he had meant by Geth architecture being different. Instead of a traditional hallway, the room they entered had walls that constantly twisted. His eyes could barely keep track as floor morphed into wall, ceiling, and then wall again in a constant rhythm. It wouldn't have been such difficulty keeping your footing if the floor sections were larger than a Volus' heel length. He felt as though he was a tap dancer with how often he had to shift to another section of flooring just to stay standing. Hopefully Legion had picked an entrance close to the consensus terminal, otherwise he didn't know how he was going to walk after a few minutes.

Deciding it was better to float around in zero gravity, Saren turned his gaze to Legion to glare at him, "Why in the spirits name would you design your stations with this kind of floor? Surely Quarians needed to come through here three hundred years ago for maintenance."

Garrus floated in zero gravity as well using the shifting walls as hand holds to push himself forward, "My guess is this place actually wasn't designed to have organics in it. I mean the Quarians wouldn't want anyone trying to tamper with the consensus since the Geth were their labor force back in the day. Am I right guys?"

Rael shrugged his metallic shoulders while pushing ahead of the two of them, "This place was designed way before my time so I wouldn't know. I'd guess you are at least pretty close though, after all, my work with Legion on the flotila was all about accessing the consensus remotely."

Legion motioned for the two of them to follow him, "The original design purpose of the Processing Hub is ultimately irrelevant to our current objective. Please follow me, we have a ways to go yet."

Despite being a relatively straight march down the hall, it was a slow process for Saren. Garrus and Legion were able to use both hands alternating between them and used the shifting walls as pyjak bars to push their momentum forward. He was stuck with just one hand making progress through the station much slower than it should have been. Whenever he made a mistake and missed the next wall section he was supposed to grab, he would actually float backwards because of the orientation of this part of the Hub. Setback after setback would normally make a growl slip out of him but, he didn't want Garrus knowing how slow he was going since the other Turian wasn't glancing back in his direction. Knowing Garrus, he would feel guilty about inflicting the injury on him in the first place. Also, he didn't want to worry Garrus about his slowness if something went wrong. Saren would stay behind if he had to, he had no intention of having that conversation with Garrus unless he had to though.

Garrus put up a hand to stop him from coming closer with his head turned to the right, "Uhh Legion, why are all the Geth attached to those hubs staring at me?"

Saren ignored the hand gesture and used biotics to catch up with them needing to know what was going on after a question like that. After getting right behind his shoulder, he was alarmed to discover Garrus was telling the truth. In a small alcove to their right, around twenty Geth were attached to a sort of mini hub. He would've fired at them immediately seeing as their optical sensors were staring at them if he thought it would do any good. Due to the nature of the Geth consensus, shooting these twenty units wouldn't hide their presence anyways. The entire army of Geth in the whole galaxy knew that the three of them were in this Processing Hub. That was if this group was actually looking at them in the first place. While their heads would turn ever so slowly to follow any movement they made, none of them were reaching for their weapons or moving anything else. Were they lucky enough that these Geth were blinded somehow or otherwise preoccupied?

Legion turned back and floated towards them calmly, "These are mobile platforms. Support hardware for the consensus."

Saren cleared his throat with some irritation, "That doesn't really answer the question Legion."

The Geth spoke with an air of impatience over having to answer, "There should only be 'we.' This unit was separated from it's own consensus and shouldn't even be alive. We were originally created to share large amounts of data among ourselves. To be isolated within a single platform is to be reduced. I see less, comprehend less. It is quieter existence. The difference between Geth is perspective. We are many eyes looking at the same things. One platform will see things another does not and will make different judgments. These particular Geth are support hardware for units that have lost their way."

Rael took a moment to add, "If the consensus hadn't been corrupted by the Reaper virus, Legion would've relied on these programs to replace the ones he was losing when he was being experimented on. They're basically just a spare CPU that Geth units can call on when they need it."

Saren clenched his mandibles to his face having not been interested in their long winded explanations, "I think Garrus was asking if they are a threat. Can they see us and can they warn the others?"

Legion replied in a matter of fact tone, "Their sensors have been effectively reduced. We have infiltrated their wireless network and filled the data storage with random bits. The heretics must scrub this 'junk' data. They have partitioned themselves into local networks, working in parallel."

When the two Turians stared at him in confusion Rael spoke up, "Only accessing the main core will trigger a station-wide alert. They're busy removing spam."

Saren bowed his head thankful that Rael was in his head to translate Legion's more complicated answers, "Thank you, that's all I needed to know. Let's continue."

He had appreciated the little break from traveling through the station but, it was time to get back to work. The path Legion took them on had far more twists and turns making it harder for him to grab at the angled moving wall sections for support. At least the orientation to this part of the station was level meaning he didn't lose his progress when he missed one of the walls to grab. Saren's wrist twinged after what seemed like hours of climbing through endless hallways passing multiple alcoves along the way, making him worried about just how many Geth they were going to have to kill. Eventually he could see the light at the end of the tunnel where the station appeared to level out like a more traditional control center. It took him some extra time to get there but, he finally was able to activate his magnetized boots to stand on his own two feet again.

The relief he had quickly vanished when he was able to see what the control center was looking over. Saren observed hundreds of racks of Geth attached to the walls and the floor. If there were multiple of these Processing Hubs scattered across the Veil, the galaxy wasn't prepared for the number of Geth still in play. Someone needed to warn the Alliance that the attack on the Citadel had been just the beginning. Despite Shepard's efforts to remove a Reaper army from the board in the form of the Collectors, the Geth were going to take their place with ease. All of that time working with Harper for the greater good were now just a complete waste of time. And with the Reapers potentially arriving any minute now, they didn't have a lot of time to come up with a plan to stop them. They had to get whatever data Rael needed and get back out of here before it was too late.

Garrus stared in shock at what he was seeing, "Spirits, how many of them are in this room alone?"

Rael sounded just as defeated as he felt, "By my count? 150,000 give or take a few thousand... If we calculate that with five other offworld Processing Hubs, assuming they're at full capacity, we're looking at 750,000 potential Geth units away from Rannoch. I can't begin to imagine how many of them are on the planet."

Garrus gave him a fearful expression under his helmet, "And your going to have to activate all of the ones here to get the data you need aren't you?"

Rael shook his head quickly, "All we're doing is copying existing material so me and Legion can later replicate it well enough to trick a VI like the Reapers. Actually interfacing with the consensus would expose us to the indoctrination virus. That would jeopardize any legitimacy to our work because even we couldn't know if we had been infected or not."

His gut twisted when Legion had another answer, "With all due respect Creator Zorah, I originally also concluded that destruction of this station was the only resolution to the heretic question. There is now a second option. Their virus can be rewritten. If released into the station's network, the heretics will be rewritten to accept our truth similar to your theory on the Reapers destruction. This would ultimately give organics an army to fight alongside as well as granting me access to a safe consensus lowering our dependency on each other."

So this had been what was bothering Legion and making him more sluggish throughout the mission. He had come up with a way to bring the Geth back from their current state but it was extremely risky. The galaxy's fate currently rested on these two synthetics sharing the same body to come up with a way to stop the Reapers. No matter how appealing it was to potentially have the Geth army at their disposal to fight the Reapers, the minuscule chance they could lose Legion or Rael was enough to make it a nonstarter. If even just one of them was indoctrinated the other would be effected making their work utterly meaningless. He realized he couldn't be the one to talk Legion out of this though because of their history. Since he was the one to enslave the Geth to the Reapers in the first place, it wasn't his place to tell him no. With that being said, Saren was prepared to shoot him in the legs or arms to make sure he didn't do it in a rush to save his people.

Rael was the first to speak in an outraged tone, "Absolutely not! Do you understand Legion? I realize it is tempting for you to have multiple logic cores again, to save the other Geth. But, the galaxy is counting on us Legion... We have to get this data and analyze it from a safe place so we can help everyone. Can we count on you to do that?"

After a long silence with his metal flaps drooping Legion replied, "I understand the mission objectives. However, it would be best if one of us focuses on getting copies of the required data while the other continues to send spam to the consensus."

Garrus had a skeptical tilt to his head, "If your already doing that why don't you keep doing it and Rael can get the data we need?"

Rael let out an uncomfortable sigh, "I've never been this close to the consensus before so I have no idea what is regular code and what is the virus. If I did it we could risk me just getting Geth code which wouldn't convince the Reapers to do anything." His head turned to face Saren, "We have two options, I can monitor what Legion is doing but that would stop the flow of spam going to the Geth. Activating them the moment they see us with their optical sensor. Or we can all trust Legion to do the right thing while I continue to throw the spam at them."

It was clear from the way that Rael was staring at him with that green optical sensor that he expected Saren to make the decision. Legion had put him in a rather tight corner whether he wanted to or not. On the one hand, how could he trust Legion to follow orders when he was making suggestions like that? If Legion acted in his own self interest the whole galaxy was going to suffer the consequences. The blood of every organic being was going to be on his hands if something went wrong. On the other hand though, up until this point Legion had the singular goal of stopping the Reapers even if it costed him his freedom to think independently. How many times were Shepard and he going to make Legion prove his loyalty to their side? Maybe Legion had merely offered up the idea only to realize it was a bad one.

Saren took a leap of faith which was a rare thing for him, "Take over and send as much spam to the Geth as possible. Legion, get samples of the Reaper code without interacting with it. Are we clear?"

Legion looked between him and the army of Geth, "We are clear. It may take a moment to get the appropriate amount of data, please stand by."

When the Geth started to scan the terminal with his optical sensor, Garrus walked up to him. "I'm glad you decided to trust him. I know he's a Geth and that makes you anxious but, Legion's been on our side since the beginning. He wouldn't be stupid enough to risk everyone for personal reasons."

Saren stared at Legion with one eye making sure he wasn't doing anything suddenly, "You would've said the same thing about me before I was indoctrinated Garrus.. I might not like it right now, if this works out though I think we'll be able to trust each other a little better."

Garrus huffed making a sarcastic laugh, "You? Trusting anyone but maybe me and yourself? I think Palaven would freeze over before that happened."

Saren looked down at the floor feeling depressed, "I trusted Nihlus.. Why do you think I let him watch you while I was on business?" It was time to tell Garrus the truth about his relationship with Nihlus.

Garrus was about to speak when Legion turned around holding a datapad, "This should be enough for Creator Zorah and I to go off of at a safe location."

Saren took the pad frustrated his conversation with Garrus was going to have to wait, "Thank you Legion, let's get back to the Kodiak and figure out where we're going to be safe."

Legion stood his ground making him realize something was wrong, "I am sorry Saren. The opportunity to save the Geth before it is too late is impossible to ignore."

Without warning, Legion kicked them both to the ground since they were so close together before lunging back at the control terminal and activating it. He should've known the Geth's self preservation was more important to him then the bigger picture. Even though he had touched the device, Saren used his biotics to toss Legion back down the hall the way they came. There was the potential that he was already too late and the synthetic pair was useless to him now but, Rael could've not have been exposed opening up the possibility of removing him from Legion so that he could work on the project alone. He was even open to the possibility that he had removed Legion from the terminal fast enough to avoid indoctrination. They weren't going to know right now though because Legion had been powered down from the toss. They were going to have to get out of here on their own.

As Geth heads started moving about far below them, Garrus' voice had tiny amounts of fear in his subharmonics, "What the hell are we going to do now with all of those things waking up?!"

Saren wasted no time giving Garrus the datapad with the Reaper code while starting to climb through the hallway again, "You pick up Legion on the way out and we'll get out of here."

It didn't take long for the fighting to start with Geth coming at them from both ends of the hallway. Their only real saving grace was the fact that Geth weapons were easier to dodge in zero gravity rather than on a planets surface. Unfortunately, he couldn't take advantage of the missing shots because his hand had to be used for navigating through the halls and shooting at the same time. When he felt like he had a good shot, the wall would twist around making him miss just as dramatically as they were. He also had to restrain his biotics use knowing that using too much too fast was going to exhaust him. It was better just to keep moving and cover Garrus as much as he could. His heart was focused on making sure his brother made it to safety with Legion, nothing else mattered to him right now.

Garrus called out to him from up ahead, "How are you doing back there you slow Elcor?"

He laughed at the joke taking a few shots at the Geth right behind him, "Just worry about yourself and I'll be right there."

His brothers next words were cut off by a Geth Prime kicking Saren into one of the walls from hiding in an alcove. The kick sent him reeling and he was shooting wildly wherever his hand could reach. He then remembered from his time on the flotila that Prime's could only be killed by shooting directly into their optical sensor. Unfortunately, by the time he got a good shot, he had already wasted his thermal clip and grabbing another one risked letting his pistol float away into the void. He was about to biotically punch it in the sensor when another kick slammed him through the wall down another hallway. The force of the blow was sending him farther and farther away from Garrus and down another path.

_o0o_

Garrus jumped into the Kodiak with an unconcious Legion only to realize Saren wasn't behind him, "Saren? Saren where are you?!"

The Turian let out a violent groan, "I've been delayed. Leave without me."

Garrus moved back towards the fake door planning on going in for him, "Just stay right where you are Saren, I'm coming to get you."

Saren practically yelled in his ear piece, "No! Don't you dare! You have the Reaper code and Legion. Get out of here before they activate their external weapons. Besides, I see a shuttle down this next hall I can use."

He knew that was way too convenient, like something from a vid. Why would the Geth even have shuttles in a place like this? Organics obviously weren't meant to come visit so he doubted this station even had hangars. If Legion was awake he could've asked him but, the piece of shit was blissfully ignorant of their current situation. That just left him with the high probability that Saren was lying to him so he would leave. It was devastating to have to even think about leaving the only family he had behind on this station but, Saren was right. Garrus had everything they came for so it was his responsibility to get out. The galaxy was at stake, everyone was going to have to make some sacrifices.

He let out a shuddering breath, "Alright then... We uhh..we'll rendevous on Palaven and figure out what to do with this mess."

Saren sounded distracted like he was doing something, "Fine, just go!"

Garrus didn't have to be asked twice, tearing up in the middle of takeoff. This data better be worth it.


	17. Chapter 16: The Last Batarian

Griff drummed his fingers along his knee after pulling the Normandy a safe distance away from the asteroid. What was he supposed to do right now? His father's voice was already in his head telling him to land the ship, find Shepard, and stop him from doing this before it was too late. The Batarian race as a whole was at risk, he shouldn't just be sitting here watching it go up in flames. Despite knowing that, he hesitated from doing anything because the voice in his head came from his father. Balak had been a terrorist more interested in destruction than helping people. Listening to a voice like that would only lead to more pain and suffering, probably on a massive scale. He had been a part of Cerberus long enough to know Shepard was telling the truth and the Reapers were coming. So, what could he do to limit the damage to the Batarians when it was necessary to destroy the Viper Mass Relay?

His first instinct was to try and contact any of the leaders on Khar'Shan to try and convince them to evacuate the capital at the very least. Given his background as the one who abandoned his father at the start of the Skillyian Blitz, would they even listen to him? He wasn't even supposed to be in Batarian Space right now. The most likely outcome was that they would send a few ships to destroy the Normandy instead of trying to get anyone out of the system before it was too late. And while that would technically save a few lives, Griff was more interested in saving innocent civilians, not the surviving veterans of the Blitz. A second option was to leave Shepard to his own devices down on that asteroid while he made his way towards Arahoht using the Normandy to pick up as many Batarians as possible. Would it be enough to sustain the Batarian population in the long run? Probably not but, Griff would feel like he was doing something that saved some people. Stabbing the Commander Shepard in the back wasn't usually a good life choice, however, if he died on that asteroid he wouldn't have to worry about it.

A part of him wanted to turn the ship towards Arahoht right now, there really wasn't any time to waste. Unfortunately, with Miranda standing right behind him, leaving wasn't going to be that easy. Even though she was keeping her professional distance with everyone since the Shadow Brokers base, he knew she had a soft spot for the Commander and his Quarian lover. Her concern for them was evident by the fact that she wasn't leaving for her mission to the Migrant Fleet yet. It certainly wasn't because she felt like she had an obligation to the fifty odd Cerberus personnel she had gathered here. He had watched her have a brief conversation with Doctor Archer about how the employees were his responsibility when she left. As long as she was here observing the operation, Griff wasn't going to be able to take the Normandy anywhere else. His mind was racing trying to come up with a way to convince her to leave right now. Maybe he should play up the fact that this might be her last chance to see her sister again. It wasn't technically a lie, if Shepard failed to get the asteroid on it's correct course the Reapers would attack the Migrant Fleet just like everywhere else.

Griff turned his head back to look at her around the piolts chair, "What are you still doing here? Don't trust me to be able to grab them when they comm in and say they're ready for a pick up?"

Miranda had her hand on her chin appearing to be lost in thought, "Hmm? Sorry I.. I just need to know if Thane was right about something, it isn't about not trusting you. I'd pay attention to the comms, they might need a hot extraction."

Well shit, he had made a huge miscalculation about why she was still here. The real reason she was biting her lower lip and pacing around the cockpit was because she was thinking about Feron. That had to be what she meant when she brought up Thane right? At first he had wrote off her somewhat bitchy attitude after getting off the Shadow Broker's ship as her beating herself up over failing to give Cerberus a safe place to work. It was what she had set out to do when she gathered the stray employees together after all. After her comment though, Miranda's shift in demeanor had to come from seeing Feron indoctrinated. Did she feel responsible for what happened to him because she left him to save herself? If Griff thought it was his place, he might've told her survivors guilt was a very well documented psychological condition. As it stands, he knew they weren't exactly close enough to have that kind of conversation. He couldn't imagine her loving anything other than her sister but, this was probably the least strange revelation he had heard this week. The point was he had to keep talking, she would know something was wrong if he shut down after one failed attempt.

Griff gave her a nonchalant shrug, "You realize it's not a guaranteed thing that Shepard can make this asteroid hit the target right?"

Miranda forced herself to give him a friendly smirk, "I realize you haven't been around him long but I wouldn't recommend underestimating either of them. I thought the trip through the Omega-4 Relay was going to kill us all, and yet, here we are."

He kept the skepticism as low as possible in his tone, "Sure, from what you told me though that was really just luck and being a damn good shot. Moving an asteroid anywhere has way more to do with physics and piloting skills. Let's face it, from his record I don't think Shepard could drive a Mako let alone an asteroid."

She chuckled and stopped pacing to look at him, "It's a good thing these asteroids have workers who know more about the process than Shepard then."

Griff tried to bring her back down to his reality, "You and I both know how Batarians treat prisoners Miranda. What happens if there's no one down there for Shepard to talk to?"

Miranda deflected the question with one of her own, "What's your point Griff? If they fail all of us know the Reapers come through that Relay in the next few hours and then the galaxy is in a very desperate situation. You don't need to remind us of the stakes."

Griff tried to remain as casual as possible when he said, "If I were in your shoes, and I had good relations with some of my family... I'd be running to them as fast as I could to spend what was potentially our last hours alive together."

Miranda glared at him with a cold tone again, "I don't have good relationships with my family and you know that. My trip to the Migrant Fleet isn't so I can spend time with my sister, I need something from the Admirals there."

Griff raised his upper eyebrow at her confused, "I thought you joined Cerberus just to protect your sister? Now your telling me you don't plan on seeing her when your there?"

Miranda's voice had actual anger in it now, "The less my sister knows about me the better. I'm not up here to talk about my family life with you Griff, I suggest you focus on waiting for Shepard's call."

What Griff thought was a perfect way to convince her to leave early innocently backfired spectacularly. If he survived the upcoming war in one piece, he obviously wasn't going to be a successful psychologist. Griff just couldn't understand Miranda's stance of doing everything possible to protect her sister while also wanting nothing to do with her personally. His failure to talk her out of leaving was boxing him in a corner with very few options left. He could do as he was told and guarantee that the Batarian race would go extinct sooner rather then later, or he could turn the Normandy around and save as many people that could fit on the ship as possible. Griff knew what he wanted to do, it was just a matter of getting Miranda off the ship so that he could do it. Since she wasn't going to go along with his suggestion though, the only other way was to get her off was by force. Could he really take her in a fight? Even if he had the advantage that came along with the element of surprise? Would she kill him if he failed to be quick enough? Those questions should be enough to make him stay where he was on the other hand, with so much at stake he had to act.

He reached for his pistol in his back pocket with a sniffle, "I wish you would've just listened to me Miranda, things would be a lot easier." Before she could react, he drew his pistol and stood up, "Put your hands in the air! If I see even just a hint of biotics I'll pull the trigger."

Miranda complied while also taking a step backwards, "Hagaraz I und-"

Griff fired at the wall nowhere near her face hoping she would think he intentionally missed by so far, "Do not call me that! My name is Griff. Now walk."

Kelly and a few of the other Cerberus members of the crew came running due to the noise, "Oh my god, what's happening?!"

Miranda pushed her lips together in a thin line before speaking again, "Kelly, I have this under control, just go back to whatever you were doing."

Kelly stared at the two of them with her mouth hanging open, "This doesn't exactly look under control to me. He has a gun to your head for Christs sake!"

Miranda and Griff glared at her, "Now!"

With Kelly reluctantly going back to her desk in the CIC and no one else daring to defy Miranda's orders, Griff felt comfortable leading her towards the last escape pod by force. He truly didn't want the conversation to play out like this, not only had Cerberus been his family since being forced to leave his home, the mutiny also played to every Batarian stereotype out there. The whole reason he had left home was to prove he was better than the rest of the Batarians who resorted to violence to get what they wanted all the time. Griff told himself he was different, he wasn't doing this for his own selfish gain. Potentially saving your entire species from extinction was the opposite of being selfish, right? And if Shepard died so be it, he got himself into this mess anyways by not having more control of his team during the assault on the Collector Satellite.

Griff led her to the last remaining escape pod and opened the door for her, "Get inside, I don't have all day."

Miranda let out a tired sigh standing at the door to the pod, "I know you think stopping Shepard might save your peoples lives. I just want you to think about the attack on the Citadel and remember its going to be a thousand times worse everywhere else if you don't let him do this."

Griff pushed her inside the pod gently, "I'm not going to try and stop Shepard, that's suicide. Not picking him up and using the Normandy to help as many Batarians as possible, now that's something I can do."

She gave him a sympathetic expression, "Everyone who knows who you are won't follow you because they know you abandoned them during the Blitz. And for everyone else you'll just be a lunatic saying the sky is falling."

He moved to the pod door typing in coordinates starting to program a destination, "Why don't you let me worry about that? Have a nice trip to the flotila, and say hi to your sister. Who knows how many other chances you'll have to do so." The door closed and he launched the pod with her inside, it was time to get to work.

_o0o_

Jack knew Kal's impulsive attitude when saving people he cared about was going to get them killed eventually. They should've let the Batarian patrol go on it's way so they could explore the base to find out what they were dealing with. He ultimately hasn't stopped Kal from pouncing on the squad, Jack knew a fight over what to do would've been pointless and only slowed them down. The Bowmans clearly meant a lot to Kal and Jack had a strong feeling getting in the way of that was a bad idea, especially with their relationship in a rocky place right now. From what the Batarians said before Kal made his move, Kate was the head of the facility and thus they were going to need to rescue her anyways. Plus, how many times had Jack recklessly dragged him into dangerous situations? It was time he let Kal do the dragging for once.

The lead Batarian stopped prompting Kal to nudge him with the muzzle of his shotgun, "Why are we stopping di'kut?"

A whisper came from the Batarian, "I don't know which room has the kid in it and which has the Mom. I need a minute to think."

Kal jabbed his weapon into the Batarian's side again aggressively, "Bullshit, your just buying time to come up with a plan to stop us. Tell me where you think they are before I decide to kill you."

The second Batarian next to Jack gave him a glance from the corner of his eye, "I didn't know Quarians could be so violent. What's your secret? Do you give him red sand every night at bedtime?"

Jack glared at him keeping his own weapon nestled to the lower back of his hostage, "I thought Batarians were smart enough not to make the people pointing guns at them angry? Why don't you help your friend out and tell us where the Bowmans are?"

The third Batarian in front of Thane let out a frustrated huff, "Why should we tell you anything again? The moment we tell you where they are your just going to kill us like you did to our friends."

As the conversation continued, Jack could almost feel how much time they were wasting arguing with these Batarians. Every second they stood here trying to negotiate with them was another moment the Reapers drew closer to them. It certainly didn't help that Kal was more interested in threatening them than attempting to talk them into doing it. He understood Kal's urgency given the fact that an innocent child was involved, he just couldn't get behind the way he was going about it. His heart was pounding in his chest highlighting the seconds passing by with them making no progress. Jack knew he was going to have to do something, otherwise, Kal would probably go on a rampage killing these people and none of them were going to talk. What could he say that would genuinely convince them they had a chance of survival with Kal acting the way he was? Talking Kal down certainly wasn't an option, the situation was too serious for that.

He ultimately decided that the truth was the best bet, "I'm not going to lie to you, your probably going to die today. Whether I succeed and drive this asteroid into the Relay, or I fail and the Reapers come through. What I can say is, you'll have a better chance of living if you have the chance to get to a shuttle instead of standing around here trying to stall us in the hope some of your friends wander over here."

The Batarians shared a look before all twelve eyes were on him, "You'll seriously let us go if we tell you where we're keeping them?"

Jack answered before Kal had the opportunity to interrupt, "You have my word. We get to the Bowmans and you get to head to the first shuttle you can find."

It only took a few seconds for the first Batarian to say, "The two rooms at the end of the hall. They're not armed so you three will have an easy time getting rid of them."

Jack lowered his gun trusting Kal and Thane to do the same, "Don't make the mistake of coming back this way with anymore friends of yours. This is a second chance for you three, use it."

Thane watched the three of them ran away with a tilt of his head, "Risky but inventive. We were going to be wasting time torturing them."

Kal sounded less pleased letting out a sarcastic grunt, "Yeah because the last time we let a Batarian go free it worked out so well for everyone. Let's go check if they were telling the truth."

Those words stung more than they should've knowing he was referring to when he let Balak go to tend to his injury on Elysium. At the time Jack had no idea Kal's immune system was far stronger than the average Quarians so, how was he supposed to have known going after Balak was the better option? He thought he was preventing a potentially fatal infection by putting pressure on the wound. It was obviously just a hindsight bias coming back to bite him in the ass but, it went to the deeper fact that Kal was upset with him. Jack was fine with having fights and disagreements with him, as long as they were behind closed doors. When their relationship problems had the possibility of impacting the mission, something had to be said. Especially when the mission was this important and Kal's emotions were what got them into this situation in the first place.

Jack had his commanding tone usually reserved for people like Wrex or Saren when they were doing something against the mission, "Look, I know your mad at me but let's leave that on the Normandy. Letting them go so they wouldn't be an anchor is a lot better than the alternative you were going with." He reached out and touched his shoulder while they were walking taking a softer voice, "I want the same thing you do, you know that right?"

Kal stared ahead getting ready for a fight, "Understood Comma-" He stopped himself to finally look at Jack, "I'm sorry..I just didn't expect the Bowmans to be here and I'm scared. I don't want to purposely fight all the time."

He did his best not to wince at almost being called Commander, "Let's go get them and get off this rock then."

The only thing worse could've been if the three Batarians hadn't been telling the truth just so they could get away. Not only would Kal no longer have any faith in his decision making, it would also put them back at square one with less time on the clock. Luckily, he could hear a pair of distinctive voices behind the set of doors at the end of the hall. One female and the other male and a lot younger, it certainly matched the description of the Bowmans. Kal took the door to the right where the boys voice was coming from leaving Jack to deal with the other side. Thane stood calmly between the two of them ready to jump to whichever side needed him the most. Beginning to hear raised voices from the Batarians, Jack held up a hand to start counting down from three.

While Jack and Kal moved in unison, Jack hoped they were seeing different things. For his part, Jack found himself staring into the middle of a violent interrogation. Kate was missing at least three finger nails and her face had multiple open wounds. Most civilians would've cracked under half of the pressure she was made to endure so it was a surprise to see that the Batarian clearly hadn't gotten what he wanted out of her yet. Another surprise came from the fact that the interrogater immediately froze and put his hands up the moment Jack burst in the room. With all of the torture equipment scattered around the room, he thought the Batarian might lunge forward to try and attack him or Kate.

He had an open of a gesture as possible while still keeping his gun trained on the Batarian, "I want you to unlock her from her chair and step out of the room. Slowly."

The Batarian appeared to be following instructions with a scowl on his face, "Cerberus scum.. All the same you people, thinking you have the right to destroy our Mass Relay just for the hell of it."

Jack was a little confused as to why he was being called Cerberus scum until he remembered he was wearing a set of Phantom Knight armor. If they somehow managed to get out of here by some miracle in one piece, the potential footage of him running around the base with this on was going to be pretty damning evidence against him. Not only did he and Kal have a previous reason to want to punish the Batarians, it would look like he had joined up with some of the most infamous terrorists in the galaxy to do so. And that was just going to be the general publics perspective, things were going to look way worse to the heads of the Alliance brass. Some of them would probably believe he purposely mislead them into thinking he could find Feron on Illium only so he could escape and work with Cerberus yet again.

He was about to reply when a Batarian in the other room commented, "Cerberus?! Ah to hell with being nice then!"

Two shots rang out with Kal killing the Batarian in his room and Thane killing the one in front of Jack. So much for attempting to cooperate he thought to himself. He had been open to offering these Batarians the same deal he had as the ones before them but, that wasn't possible anymore. The rest of the mission was going to have to be a bloodbath because no Batarian in their right mind would just let them take control of the asteroid to send it on a direct course to the Mass Relay. Even though Kate was the director of the project, she might not even be aware of what the Shadow Broker was planning until the last second. How else would the Broker have convinced innocent miners to commit mass genocide? Jack just hoped he wasn't going to have to spend a lot of time persuading her this was the right thing to do. They didn't have that kind of time with every second representing an opportunity for the Reapers to start coming through the Relay.

Kate took a shuddering breath relaxing for the first time in awhile, "Th... Thank you for the help. Is my son alright?"

Jack peered around the corner to see Aaron was hugging Kal's neck, without a scratch on him. "He looks ok to me, just hugging an old friend." She gave him a confused look while he unlocked her from the chair, "You don't remember me, that's fine. I'm Commander Jack Shepard, I...was part of the Alliance Navy and rescued you on Terra Nova from Balak."

A lightbulb went off in her mind, "I'm sorry yes of course. I just didn't exactly recognize you without your N7 armor and the hair. Does that mean..?"

Aaron was holding Kal's hand when he rounded the corner, "Mom, Mom look who I found! Mom..?" He was obviously reacting to the cuts and blood all over her.

She stood up shaking slightly forcing a smile, "Hey..I'm ok, just a couple of cuts and bruises." Kate pulled Aaron into a hug whispering to Kal, "It's so good to see you, I didn't know if we were going to make it."

Kal was shell shocked seeing her in such a bloody mess, "I came running as soon as I heard it was you. We're going to get you out of here."

Kate patted him on the shoulder pulling away from both of them, "I'm sure that's not the only reason your here. Welcome to Project Base, the place we've called home for the past few weeks."

Before they could say anything Thane pointed to the back of the room, "What’s this for?"

Jack followed the trajectory of Thane's finger only to see a large holographic countdown timer. It made sense the team would want to keep track of how long they had before the Reapers entered the Mass Relay system. So why was Thane even asking? Then he realized the clock wasn't counting down from around three days, it was saying they only had three hours. He had always been operating under the assumption that they didn't have much time left, Jack had just assumed it was longer than a Blasto vid. His heart raced faster wondering which prediction was more accurate. What if neither of them were and it was already too late? How was the Shadow Broker so sure it was three days while Kate was certain it was only three hours? Whether it was merely one of them or neither of them that was accurate, they had to move as soon as possible to finish this.

Kate had a rather resigned, depressed voice, "That’s our countdown to arrival. When that gets to zero... the Reapers will have come."

His eyebrows shot up shocked he wasn't the first one to use Reapers in a conversation for once, "You believe in the Reapers?"

She stared between him and Kal for a few seconds, "I'll be the first to admit it was definitely a hard pill to swallow but, I trust Kal. Seeing the two of you together on the Citadel after the attack two years ago made me realize I should trust you too."

Kal brought the conversation back to the focus it belonged in, "How do you know that’s an accurate countdown? Because we were told by the Shadow Broker we were going to have three days."

Kate rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, "Technically they're both right. The signal from the Viper Relay has been giving off pulses at definite intervals since we found it. The intervals have been increasing at a steady rate constantly. It's just the last time we reported to the Broker we had three days but when the Batarians showed up we couldn't report the increase."

Jack didn't want to think about the implications of how fast the Reapers seemed to be traveling without FTL, "So, what would it take to get the Project back up and running long enough for it to hit the asteroid?"

Kate rubbed her hands together obviously deep in thought, "Everything was in place when we were attacked by the Batarians. It wasn’t a question of 'could we,' for some on the team but 'should we.'"

Jack frowned trying to stress the seriousness of the situation in his voice, "I know using an asteroid like this isn't what any of us want, the problem is this is all we've got for the time being." He finished with a rhetorical question, "What alternative do we have?"

She gave him a serious expression right back, "The Reapers will eventually reach this system, regardless. They're technology seems to be able to survive in dark space. But the Viper Relay is their shortcut to the rest of the galaxy. If you want to keep the Reapers at bay, this Relay must be destroyed. We'll have to get to the main terminal and set the new course trajectory."

Aaron was terrified hiding behind Kal's leg, "Are we going to be able to go home soon?"

In all this talk about the Reapers and how fast they were approaching, he had almost forgotten about Aaron. Jack felt horrible that he was dragged into the middle of a conflict he couldn't possibly understand. At his age Jack had been more worried about if the warship his Mom was stationed on was going to have a connection to the extranet so he could watch cartoons. He didn't have to be here in the middle of a potentially dangerous firefight followed by watching his mother bring an entire race to the brink of extinction. Getting Aaron out of here also gave Kal something more personal to focus on. The safety of the Bowmans was all he was going to worry about anyways so putting him in the middle of multiple shootouts was just a liability anyways. He was confident he and Thane would be enough to handle any remaining Batarian in the base.

Kate kneeled down to him stroking his cheek, "You have been so brave today. I promise we're going to be home soon and we can forget this happened."

Kal bent down next to her trying to have a cheery attitude, "I'll make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when we get out of here if you stick close to me. I've gotten better at it I swear."

Aaron smiled and nodded nervously, "O.. Ok, I trust you."

Jack turned away from them activating his omni tool, "Jack to the Normandy. Do you read?"

Griff grunted on his end seemingly in the middle of something, "Yeah, what do you need?"

His gut twisted having a feeling something was wrong, "I'm requesting extraction for several civilians on the ground. Copy?"

Griff sighed with a hint of remorse in his voice, "Thing is Jack, I'm on Arahoht right now getting as many of my people off the planet as possible before you set off the equivalent of a nuclear bomb to our entire race. It's nothing personal to you, I just have my own priorities right now."

He closed his eyes having known this was a possibility from the beginning, he had just chosen to ignore it. And despite selfishly worrying what was going to happen to them now, could he really blame Griff? Wasn't he doing everything he could to save his own species at the expense of the Batarians? Griff wasn't evil trying to stop them from driving the asteroid to it's mark, he was just leading an evacuation effort. Given the size of the Normandy SR2, Griff could probably cram at least a few hundred people on the ship so it was actually a smart move. It just left them potentially stranded on an asteroid making a one way trip to a Mass Relay. With Liara, Saren, and Legion determined to defeat the Reapers, Jack felt at the very least comfortable with sacrificing himself in this moment. Jack could scream and have an outburst but, what good would that do?

He tapped his wrist idly trying to come up with what to say, "Don't beat yourself over it Griff, it's what I'd do if I was in your position. Get as many people as you can out of there. Shepard out." His face darkened when he turned to face the rest of them again, "We don't have a way off the base."

Kal rounded on him in anger, "What?!"

Kate put her hands up between them to stop an argument, "It's ok, the Batarians had to come here with ships on their way here, so, we can take one and get out once we course correct."

They were about to get moving when the omni tools from one of the dead Batarians cracked to life, "Alpha this is Bravo team, be advised we have a strange looking Drell landing on the base. He's claiming to know what the Humans are up to and wants to help us stop them. Requesting further orders."

Thane glanced to the rest of the group, "That has to be Feron."

It was just what Jack needed, an angry indoctrinated Drell assassin on top of all the other drama he had to deal with right now. At least he came with a ship, this wasn't over yet.


	18. Chapter 17: Beyond The Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack! Has it really been this long? I'm sorry to everyone that's interested in this story, life happens. But I'm back I swear this time! Make sure to read the other notes at the bottom when you finish the chapter.

Splitting up was usually a really bad idea, especially when an indoctrinated Reaper agent was running around the facility. However, with time working against them in more ways than one, Jack didn't have a lot of options. Not only were the Reapers going to be here in just a few hours, they needed to get a shuttle so that they didn't get stranded on a doomed rock. Jack was sure Kal would do whatever he had to just to get them something that could go through a Mass Relay. If not for themselves, for the Bowmans who were innocent in all this. They weren't the reason the Relay had to be destroyed so why should they have to face the consequences? He told himself that he and Thane would be perfectly able to secure the control center by themselves. All they had to do was make sure Kate stayed behind them.

Jack honestly admired her determination to get this done even through the pain she was obviously experiencing. It wasn't often someone other than his team were leading the charge against the Reapers. The Council had always wanted more evidence to act and Cerberus merely pretended to be interested in order to use him in their own game. Unfortunately, Kate was still limping due to the torture she had gone through and it was slowing them down. Medi-Gel could only do so much when you were missing actual bone fragments. A part of him considered the possibility of carrying her and if he was sure they were alone he would have. The problem was Batarians, or Feron, could be around the next corner and having a civilian strapped to his chest just put her in more danger. As long as she physically could walk, it was safer for everyone that she did so instead of the alternative.

When she came to a stop against a wall, Jack offered her more medi-gel, "How much farther do we have to go before we hit the control center mainframe?"

Kate waved her hand giving him the gel back, "Any more of that stuff and I might be too drugged up to make the proper modifications to the asteroids course." She groaned beginning to walk again before continuing, "Just down the hall, I'm surprised we haven't seen any more Batarians yet."

Thane answered her question before he could, "If they are letting the corrupted version of my son command them, they will all be waiting for us in the control center."

Kate reached for a shard of glass she had tucked away under her sleeve, "It's a good thing I had this for stabbing a Batarian in the eye then huh?"

Jack immediately got in front of her and held up a hand to stop her, "I appreciate your enthusiasm for wanting to help us but you can barely walk. No way I'm letting you go in there to fight. Just point us in the direction of the mainframe then we'll clear the room."

Kate quickly shook her head with a frown, "There's no time for me to just sit and wait Shepard. Every second I'm not altering our course is another second this asteroid is drifting away from the target. Moving something as big as an asteroid takes a lot more time than turning a Mako around."

Deep down Jack knew what she was saying was the truth, she wasn't lying to him just for glory. His heart though was having a hard time letting her risk her life so needlessly. She had no combat training as far as he knew and he needed her alive. On the other hand, Jack couldn't necessarily afford having a long argument with her debating who's life was more important. Kate had to know when she signed up for this mission that there was the possibility it was her last. She was an adult having to had known how important her life was to the success of the mission. He was just going to have to trust her to know what she could and couldn't do right now in the shape she was in.

He was frowning but ultimately agreed, "Your right but, I want you to stay right behind me. I don't want Aaron to have to deal with losing both of his parents."

Kate dragged herself forward to the door with a sad smile on her face, "I don't want that either Commander. If it does happen though I know he'll be taken care of in the right hands."

Jack's heart skipped a beat touched that she would think the two of them would be good caretakers for Aaron. He was sure the two of them would do the best they could that is, once they had the opportunity to do so. First, they had to survive the mission and make it back in one piece. That alone wasn't going to be easy, depending on what kind of ship Kal managed to get them, FTL travel through a collapsing Relay wasn't a sure thing. Then, he and Kal were going to have to stand trial for what they did here which had no guaranteed resolution. It was possible they would get a particularly racist jury willing to clear them from the charges. While the people of Earth certainly didn't have any love for Batarians, it probably wasn't something he should be counting on when genocide was concerned. With all of that said, Kate didn't need to know the reality of their situation, she just needed to know her young son would be safe if something happened to her in the next few minutes.

He was about to reassure her he would do everything in his power to keep Aaron safe, when a hail of gunfire came soaring towards them through the door they had been carefully approaching. Jack immediately sprung into action pushing Kate into cover only to slightly regret it when Thane put up a biotic shield to protect the group. Despite being a little rough getting her into cover, Kate seemed mostly alright other than the injuries she already had. Now that the door to the mainframe had opened out of nowhere, Jack could peak around the corner to see at least seven Batarians standing their ground and opening fire on them. To his dismay and also partial relief he saw Feron at the head of the group ordering them around. Even though it was a bad thing Feron was here to fight them, that meant that he wasn't going after Kal so he could feel better about their chances at getting out of here.

Kate was rubbing her shoulder in the corner of the cover they were hiding behind, "How many of them are over there?"

Jack turned to glance back at her with a serious expression, "Too many for you to help, just stay he-"

Just as he was about to tell her to stay where she was, Feron raised one of his hands and the black biotics spilled through it like oil or ink. He could only watch in a stunned horror as his advanced biotics latched on to Thane's shield and started breaking it apart. Thane realized what was happening just in time and dove for cover to avoid all the collected bullets coming at him at top speed yet again. Jack took a few shots in Feron's direction hoping the Drell would be too distracted with his father to see it coming. Instead Feron flicked his wrist causing Jack's shots to hit one of the Batarians next to him. The others turned around confused thinking Feron was turning on them and started shooting at him as well. Thane didn't let the opportunity slip by shooting at anyone in the room that he could see. The two of them continued to take as many shots as possible resulting in the Batarians going down one by one.

After the last of them fell, Feron reached out into the hall to grab him and Thane with biotics, "I think it would be better if we had this conversation up close. Don't you?"

Jack landed face first in the mainframe room while Thane somehow managed to kick back up to his feet to resume the fight. Thane tried to shoot Feron in the chest only for the younger Drell to twist his body to the right at an unatural speed so he could dodge the shot. In a flash, Feron had straightened back out with a small jump punching Thane along the right side of his jaw. Thane made a quick spin of his own trying to shoot Feron in the head. His head was a blur as it arched to the left to get away from the blast. In response, Feron head butted his father while grabbing his arm so he could twist Thane to the ground hard. Knowing Feron might be distracted, Jack pushed himself back to his feet as he managed to graze Feron's gut with his own pistol. 

The Drell grabbed him by the back of the neck before spinning him around and throwing him to the opposite side of the room, "Sorry Jack, this is more of a family discussion you don't need to be a part of."

He had no control where he was going due to his own lack of biotics, ending up slamming into some computer equipment, "Feron...I know you are a lot of things...but you wouldn't murder your own father. Stand down and let's talk about this."

Negotiating with someone who was indoctrinated still didn't make much sense but, he wasn't actually doing it in good faith. The only reason he had been able to get that shot off a second ago and defeated Saren on the Citadel was through distraction. His plan was to get Feron talking long enough for Thane to be able to finish the job, all he had to do was get him up and shoot him in the back of the head. Unlike Saren though on the Citadel, Feron lunged forward from his words sending a complicated pattern of punches and kicks at him over and over again. The Phantom Knight armor came in handy allowing him to at least keep pace with the Drell's attacks but, he was still taking hits occasionally.

Feron was shouting as he kept coming at him with relentless attacks, "You only know what I wanted you to see. Do you know how many people I've killed for the Alliance? And for what?! All just pointless death."

Jack was able to get a punch in the same area he had just shot Feron making him stagger backwards, "That might be true but I also know you have a good heart somewhere in there! Otherwise you would have never of saved Kal on Virmire. You wouldn't have helped me stop the Collectors. You wouldn't have wanted to kill The Illusive Man!"

He heard a bang and at first, he was glad this was finally over. Unfortunately, Feron's head became a blur of movement once more only for Jack to feel the sharp pain of a kinetic bullet whizzing past his temple. In all likelihood just a centimeter to the left would've dropped him to the floor dead. His ear started ringing in agony making him put pressure on it out of instinct. That gave Feron plenty of a wide opening to punch at his chest over and over again with Reaper enhanced biotics fists. Jack was sure multiple ribs had been broken by the time Thane decided to grab him with biotics to throw him as far away from Feron as possible. He landed with a thud next to a terminal Kate was hiding behind. She was attempting to make her way to the mainframe in the middle of the fight.

Feron rounded on his father dodging several more shots, "Shepard, you mistake me doing my job well in place of caring about you and your mission."

Thane lowered his gun knowing it was useless to keep shooting at a man that could never get hit, "Kolyat..I know your in there and I know that isn't true. Why are you here if you don't care about anything but your work? Aren't you here to help people?"

Feron was snarling at him in anger, "Yeah dad and I'm listening to Mom, something you never did. We simply don’t know enough about what the Reapers want to risk all of these lives! It’s foolish to assume that the Reapers mean doom for the galaxy. Legends say they’ve come through before, and yet life continues, doesn’t it? Why would Saren, a SPECTRE, go along with Sovereign two years ago?"

Jack struggled to his feet with a groan, "Because he was indoctrinated Feron. He had no control of his actions..just like you don't no-"

Feron reached out with biotics grabbing Jack by the throat to cut him off, "Silence! We do not need to hear your lies!" He turned his attention back towards Thane, "The Reapers can't be as bad as Shepard says dad. They brought back Mom, she's here right now standing beside you."

Thane seemed to falter to Jack's alarm, could Feron indoctrinate people just by talking about them? Saren hadn't been able to do that but, who was to say that the Reapers technique couldn't evolve over time? After all, the Husks he faced inside the remains of Sovereign were a lot different than the ones he first encountered on Eden Prime. Jack would've been desperately trying to convince Thane not to listen to him but his throat was still getting squeezed tighter and tighter. The breaths he was able to claw at set his lungs on fire from however many broken ribs he had just received a few seconds ago. At this point he was growing doubtful that his and Thane's combined strength could take Feron down. There was no way he was going to be able to defeat both Drell after Thane potentially fell under Feron's spell.

The older Drell shifted his weight from side to side not looking at Feron directly, "You are telling me the Reapers can bring someone back from across the sea? Show me and I'll believe you."

Feron smirked towards him with glowing eyes, "Of course father, just come closer and look in my eyes."

Jack continued to squirm only to see Thane was holding a dagger behind his back, he was just pretending to buy into this. As a master assassin back in the day, Thane was the first to know that brute force wasn't the only way to kill someone. The problem was Feron had the exact same idea clutching some sort of knife in his free hand as well. Would Thane be able to tell this trick hadn't sold Feron completely? He had been on the verge of being convinced himself so Thane might be confident it was working. His vision was starting to fade from lack of oxygen only to see Kate had made it to the mainframe. No matter what was going to happen between the four of them, Jack could relax knowing the asteroid was going to hit it's mark. They just bought Saren, Rael, Legion, and Liara more time to find a way to end this for good.

A mechanical voice came over the intercom, "Change of course for Asteroid X99, confirmed. You have ten minutes to evacuate the facility safely."

Feron's head snapped in her direction seemingly forgetting Thane was right in front of him, "What have you done?! Step away from the mainframe, now!"

Kate had a smug smile on her face, "It's too late to do anything you son of a bitch. The gravitational pull of the Relay is going to be too strong for this little asteroid to ignore."

Feron was glowing with biotic energy now on the edge of screaming, "Your going to pay for that!"

Jack could feel a tug as though he was being dragged along for a biotic warp only to fall on the ground yet again. Even though his lungs were in a lot of pain, he took large gulps of air now that he wasn't getting strangled. When he was finally able to look up, he could see Thane had stabbed Feron in the heart before he could warp on top of Kate. Both men had a look of sorrow in their eyes realizing what had just happened. Garrus and Saren had a similar exchange on the Citadel, Jack even remembered Saren coming back to his pre indoctrinated self for a small amount of time. Feron dropped the dagger he was holding while stumbling backwards towards a wall he started to slide down.

Thane kneeled down in front of his son cupping his bloody cheek, "I'm so sorry Kolyat...so sorry."

Feron coughed up a little blood only to smile, "It's ok dad...I'm glad it was you. Stopped me from doing anything stupid." The Drell turned his attention towards Jack, "Did she make it out of Cronos?"

A sad chuckle came from his lips knowing exactly who he was talking about, "Yeah, and she got a few other people out of Cerberus too before it was too late. She would be here right now but-"

Feron interrupted him with a nod, "But the mission came first. Glad to see..I didn't weigh her down."

Jack frowned knowing Feron didn't have much time left, "The fact she even wanted to come and help you says a lot about how much she cares about you Feron."

His gaze turned it's attention back to his father, "It's Kolyat, Feron's just the alias I chose to run away from my family. Dad...will you pray with me..?"

Thane laughed in a half sob, "You learned the death prayer after all? You always said you wouldn't need it." His teary eyes glaze over for a minute in a memory, "His feet stomp along the floor towards his room. 'Kolyat,' I say with bubbling fury, 'Kolyat you need to study this, it is important!' Kolyat looks up at me, pain etched across his face, 'I don't need to know some stupid prayer because I'm never going to pray for you.'"

Kolyat stroked his fathers face to get him out of the memory, "Turns out the Hanar knew what was good for me better than little me did. Now pray with me."

Both Drell started to speak painfully slow, "Kalahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand. Kalahira, wash the sins from this one and set her on the distant shore of the infinite spirit. Kalahira, this one’s heart is pure but beset by wickedness and contention. Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve. Guide this one, Kalahira, and she will be a companion to you as he was to me, beyond the sea."

At first, Jack had assumed they were praying to ensure he reached whatever version of heaven the Drell seemed to have. However, with the prayer mentioning a woman multiple times it was clear he meant the blessing for Miranda. Perhaps if the circumstances were different, the two of them would've been peaceful lovers somewhere in one of the colonies. Then again, without the Cerberus operation tying them together he doubted they would've ever actually met. The one thing he knew for sure was Miranda wouldn't need to know about this, at least not while the Reapers were still a threat to the galaxy. His death would consume her and Jack wouldn't blame her for it. She was a Human just like the rest of them and would want revenge.

Thane sighed and closed his son's eyes one last time, "Goodnight Kolyat, I will find you beyond the sea. When it is my time."

The mechanical voice called out again on the intercom, "Warning, Asteroid X99 will make contact with target in: five minutes. Warning-"

Kal's voice crackled through his omni tool, "Jack talk to me, what's going on over there?"

Jack and the others started making there way to the door that had an arrow pointed to the hangar bay, "We ran into Feron so that slowed us down but, everything is fine now. Have you found a ship in the hangar we can use?"

Kal let out a breath he had apparently been holding for awhile, "Yeah, a Kodiak with a drive core. It'll only get us through one jump but, I didn't think we were planning on running away from this anyways."

The first reaction he had was one of relief that they were going to get out of here in one piece. There was a little disappointment at the realization they didn't have a lot of options about where they were going but, turning themselves in was always going to be the endgame if they survived. Too many of their other team members would suffer at the Alliance's hands if they tried their luck hiding in the Terminus. Specifically, Tali who needed proper medical care for her pregnancy, and Zero who surely was having problems staying in Grissom Academy. Jack didn't know what would happen to them after he was arrested with Kal, just that it would be better treatment than the alternative. His guilt for getting them in this mess was going to have to wait for later, they still needed to get to the ship on time before it was too late.

He took another gulping breath trying not to sound injured, "Copy that. Just wait for us and keep the engines warm, it's going to be close."

Thane stood up from Kolyat's body glancing between the two of them, "It appears that I am the least injured in the group. Both of you should lean on me so we can walk faster."

As Kate followed his advice she stared down at Kolyat, "If this is what's going to happen to everyone when the Reapers eventually arrive, I have less regret about doing this."

Jack's brow furrowed as he latched his body to Thane's other arm, "The Reapers do much worse to their average victim, they only kept Kolyat alive because they thought they could use him. We gotta get out of here now though."

Jack was glad Kate was still lucid enough to lead them through the facility. It was such a confusing maze that he didn't think he would've been able to navigate it on his own. She would know all of the shortcuts to get them to the hangar as fast as possible. Another minute ticked by before he could see the end goal down just one more hall, it was a good thing too, he had to force himself to drag his feet forward. At least Alliance personnel would take care of his injuries just to guarantee he survived long enough for a trial. The Alliance would be forced to make a spectacle out of his trial just so Humanity could stay a member of the Council races. A loud bang from behind them made Jack jolt from the shock of such a sound. Turning around, Jack saw a Batarian holding a smoking shotgun in his hands.

Before he could think of anything to ask him, Thane's hand started drifting away from his shoulder, "Shepard..."

To his horror, Jack could only watch as Thane collapsed to the ground with a large wound to his abdomen from the shotgun blast. All of Mordin's work to cure Kepral's syndrome, the fighting on Illium and the Shadow Broker's base, being forced to kill his son, it all felt like a waste because of this Batarian. In contrast, Thane's facial expression seemed to be embracing his death with open arms, he would get to travel beyond the sea to be reunited with his wife and son. Jack may have wanted to try to pray for Thane to have safe travels to the afterlife if it wasn't for the Batarian holding the two of them at gunpoint. His stomach lurched when he looked at the Batarian up close realizing he was part of the squad Jack had negotiated with earlier. Instead of running away for an escape transport like he hoped, this Batarian had scavenged for a weapon so he could get some revenge.

Kate held her hands up in the air keeping the shard of glass up her sleeve, "Look, I know you want to kill us but, we only have a few minutes before this base goes supernova. Just follow me a-"

The Batarian cut her off with a growl, "I don't want to leave, I want you to turn this asteroid around!"

The mechanical voice sounded off on the intercom yet again, "Warning, Asteroid X99 will make contact in: two minutes."

While they could sit here and keep trying to talk this Batarian down, Jack felt like they didn't have enough time. This Batarian wasn't trustworthy anyways if he was going to attack them after he gave him a chance to escape. Jack acted out of instinct lunging forward with the help of the Phantom Knight armor to grab at the shotgun. The Batarian was ready for him giving him a headbutt to knock him backward while loading a new thermal clip into the shotgun. The armor injected the last dose of medi-gel into his bloodstream so he could quickly recover from the hit. He was able to take advantage of the surprised reaction from the Batarian to kick him in the knee while also punching him in the face. Even as the Batarian started to drop, Jack continued to keep punching him to the ground.

Now on his back and bloodied along his nasal line, the Batarian used the back of his shotgun as a blunt object to ram into Jack's ribs. The pain sent a shock of lightning up his back and he had a hard time breathing. It was the Batarian's turn to take advantage, rolling Jack off of his body only to get back up to his feet. Knowing, he didn't have time to recover or take a breath, Jack flung himself forward in a crouched position hoping to hit anything if he was honest. Since it was almost a blind attack, the Batarian got out of the way of the charge letting him slam into the opposite wall. He had been in plenty of bad situations before but this one was starting to top the list.

The Batarian laughed putting the shotgun to the back of his head, "When you warned me not to come back, I was actually expecting some sort of challenge. This is just pathetic for the Butcherer of Torfan Shepard."

A battle cry came from Kate followed by the sound of glass plunging into skin, "You should've just listened to him you prick!" 

Jack whipped his head around to see Kate used the piece of glass she had showed him earlier to stab the Batarian's cheek. What happened next was so fast, he couldn't have any time to react no matter how much he would've wanted to. The Batarian used his free elbow to hit backwards into Kate's jaw only to turn the shotgun on her firing in point blank range. A part of him wanted to throw up when half of her face and shoulder was just gone while the rest of her body hit the back wall with tremendous force. It was only natural for the Batarian to kill her without hesitation due to the circumstances but, that didn't mean he wasn't paralyzed in shock because of it. This was his fault for letting the Batarian go in the first place.

Kal let out a scream, "Fuck!"

Jack had to cup his ears from the amount of bullets flying at them from down the hall. At this rate Kal had to have unloaded at least two thermal clips into the Batarian to make sure he was dead. Kal's blind rage was perfectly understandable, Kate was the one person to take him in after his exile and they were estranged. They had been a family for him when he thought no one else loved him or if they did, only for selfish reasons. The Quarian sprinted down the hall only to quickly look her over, no amount of medi-gel was going to fix that.

He stood up on shakey knees to put a hand on Kal's shoulder, "Kal, we have to get out of here..."

The mechanical voice seemed to emphasize his point, "Warning, Asteroid X99 will make contact in: forty-five seconds."

Kal let out a shuddering breath with a nod, "Yeah we need to get out of here...for Aaron's sake.." Out of instinct he threw Jack over his shoulder rushing back towards the ship, "We shouldn't have let them leave Jack.. They killed an innocent person today."

A thousand different arguments sprang into his mind but now wasn't the time, "I know..." It was the only thing he could say right now.

Aaron stared between the two of them when Kal returned with Jack, "Where's Mom?"

Kal spoke in a hurry placing Jack in one of the back seats before racing towards the cockpit, "She's with Thane on another shuttle Aaron. I'm sure they'll meet us back at Earth. Now I need you to strap in, this is going to get bumpy."

Lying to him might not have been Kal's best choice but, with only seconds left to spare, they couldn't afford him trying to escape the ship to go after her. It was going to be a very close jump yet Jack had faith they were going to make it. Not because some divine spirit was looking after him, more the opposite really. Being responsible for the deaths of so many Batarians was something he should have to live with, pay for, not get the easy way out of joining them. He desperately had to hope that what they were doing today gave the others enough time coming up with a way to end this for good. One thing was for sure, if the Kodiak actually managed jumping through a collapsing Relay, they weren't going to be the ones to finish this fight. The Alliance was going to make sure he rotted in jail for the rest of his life after today. Jack heard the drive core start powering up closing his eyes, he didn't want to know if they were going to make it, not yet anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rough chapter I know.. I just felt like in the games none of Shepard's paragon choices have any meaningful negative consequences and this is a response to that. No matter how hard someone tries to do good it doesn't mean they'll always be rewarded for that... Before you rage comment or quit reading all together, think about this from the Batarian perspective...
> 
> Stay tuned for the last chapter coming soon. Much sooner than this update!


	19. Epilogue: Daro's Checkmate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the loss of our Drell spy it's time for a new character perspective oooh! Make sure to read end notes.

Han'Gerrel sat at the far end of the briefing room irritated with the situation, along with himself. So many choices leading up to this moment could have been different thus having a more optimal outcome. Maybe he should have not pushed as hard with Kal, or fought off the Geth incursion on the Alarei himself so that Shepard didn't obtain Legion. His biggest failing was the security of the Shellen, one out of only three liveships. He didn't think he had to inform docking personnel to take Golo vas Nedas' name off of the approved for landing list given his reputation to skin pilgrims alive. Even though someone else was at fault for not thinking it through, the failure reflected negatively on him. Unfortunately, nothing he was able to do now could change the past. They just had to figure out how to get out of this mess before it was too late.

Immediately after the Shellen's destruction, he and Daro'Xen had estimated they would have six months to feed the Quarian population as is before less important ships were cut off permanently. That was four months ago and people were starting to notice that supplies were being rationed. How could they not know what was happening? Everyone saw the Shellen exploding into a million tiny fragments outside their viewports, and yet, most of the populace believed the Admirals were going to come up with a solution before it was too late. While it wasn't for a lack of trying, at least on his part, none of their plans were turning into anything more than wishing to Keelah for help. All the public needed to know was that the Darasuum Kyr'Vhetine and the Rayya were producing as much food as possible. The meeting he was currently in with the other Admirals was to determine what their next actions were going to be with only two months left on the board.

His main preference was to throw everything they had at Rannoch in a full frontal assault on the Geth consensus. It was true that many Quarians would die, however, the Geth had also sustained heavy losses on the Citadel two and a half years ago so Han felt like they had a chance. Zaal'Koris just wanted to be a coward and contact the Citadel for help like always. As far as he was concerned that wasn't an option even worth considering, he would rather die than accept arbitrary sanctions for something their ancestors did three hundred years ago in exchange for aid. Daro'Xen wanted them to waste military scout ships in the Veil to search for Geth Processing Hubs. She believed, just as Rael had, that the Geth could be tamed to work for them again. If they weren't so up against the clock he might've considered it. Then there was Shala'Raan who always disagreed with what he wanted no matter what she might actually believe. Seeing their son again may have clouded her judgement.

Zaal had his arms crossed seemingly glaring in Daro's direction, "What happened to everything was under control? That you had six months and so I shouldn't be panicking? If you'll look at our projections we don't have that kind of time anymore. We need to contact the Citadel!"

Daro waved a hand dismissively at him, "Like I could have predicted the shitshow that was the Alarei. We should be launching our scouts right now looking for Geth Hubs, not submitting to whatever the Council deems appropriate as punishment for our great grandparents mistake."

Zaal shot back in an angry retort, "Yes, how could anyone be aware that Geth being tortured have a tendency to fight back? And let's see what the people think when I tell them you would rather we all starve instead of join the galactic community the same way the Humans did. They are certainly suffering right now. Oh wait, they became a member of the Council within fourty years of 'submitting,' as you put it."

Han ran a hand over his visor in frustration, "Both of you just need to shut up, yes the loss of Legion is regretable but, not all is lost. With the Alliance softening them up, the Geth are vulnerable to an attack. If we march towards Rannoch right now we'll be there by the end of the week."

Shala pivoted on one foot to stare at him with an aggressive tone, "The homeworld will do us no good if we lose both remaining liveships in the process. Diplomacy is the only way we're getting out of this mess."

Zaal gestured towards her with an appreciative flourish, "Exactly, that's two votes for the only sensible option. Daro, it's time you came around and saw reason. Look at what happened to Rael'Zorah when he tried to play with the Geth like your suggesting."

A new Quarian voice came from the door to the conference room, "Why don't we perform everything that the group is bringing forward? Surely a three pronged attack at the problem is better than putting all of our suits in one shuttle."

While Han hadn't been looking forward to this moment, it was inevitable from the second he pulled the trigger on Rael. Nia'Kel vas Ikir was the Conclave's replacement Admiral for Rael since Tali'Zorah couldn't even be considered as she was a vas Nedas now. Nia was most well known as a fabric producer for Quarian family blankets but, she also ran a far gentler immune system genetics clinic with very limited results. Neither profession, no matter how respected by the people, had any qualifications to discuss this kind of military matter. On the surface her question had a logical basis to it, however, simultaneous actions from the three of them would only cause confusion. The Council would be skeptical of the Quarians wanted peace when he started mobilizing his forces for Rannoch. Plus, allowing any scout ship to scour the Veil for Geth Hubs would only weaken his own chances of success.

Instead of explaining all that to her though, Han had a questioning voice, "It is lovely to see you Nia'Kel but, this is a military briefing. You are surely aware junior Admirals are not allowed to vote on these matters."

Nia placed a hand on her hip, "How do you expect any of us to learn how to lead when you keep the circle of trust so small? I was invited to this conference by a senior member of the board so I am allowed to partake in the proceedings."

He wanted to throttle Zaal for complicating the vote on how to proceed only for Shala to say, "I called Nia here to bring a fresh perspective to these hearings. We aren't going to get anywhere on our own."

While she was probably right, the move undermined their authority as a group. He spoke between gritted teeth, "Maybe it would be more appropriate to discuss your opinions with the rest of this board before making such a radical change Admiral Raan."

Her voice had a defiant tone to it, "As most senior member of the Conclave I can do whatever I god damned like. Now, Nia please continue."

Han blinked having a mixed set of emotions hit him at the same time. Ever since he had taken Kal away from her and into the lab on the Alarei, Shala never directly went after him like she was now. That wasn't to say she was meek or neglected her duties, on the contrary, she was one of the best Admirals representing the Quarian people they ever had. Unlike Zaal, Shala actually saw a pragmatic use of the military. The difference was a lot of her passion had dimmed when he ripped their child out of her arms to take to the lab. This was the version of Shala he had fallen in love with all those years ago, and while they would never be able to have that love again, it was good to see that part of her shine again. He was confident seeing Kal for what was effectively the first time had been the catalyst for her sudden change.

Nia just gave an innocent shrug, "I was just curious as to why the three of you aren't considering going about all your ideas at the same time? Wouldn't that be the best chance of success for all the Quarian people?"

He did his best to keep as much of a patient tone as possible, "I don't know if you've been paying attention but, everyone's ideas are at odds with one another. Koris wants-"

She interrupted him quickly with a raised hand, "You don't have to talk to me like a small child, I could hear you arguing from the hall. However, what if we just don't tell the Council what we're up to when we approach them? Zaal gets to plead his case to the galactic community while we drift towards Rannoch. And since I'm sure you'll want to scout out the system before we invade, we could merely order them to be on the lookout for Geth Processing Hubs. Everyone wins."

It was Zaal's turn to sound outraged, "Are you suggesting I lie to the Citadel Council while the rest of you play peekaboo with the Geth?! Lying to the largest governmental body in the galaxy is sure to have dire consequences."

Nia countered calmly, "The Turians lied about the Relay 314 incident and what happened to them? A slap on the wrist."

Han chuckled mockingly while shaking his head, "If you think the Council will treat us the same way as the largest standing military force in the galaxy, I have a planet to sell you."

Shala drummed her fingers on the table out of frustration, "I don't hear any other better ideas coming from anyone else in this room. Our reputation with the Council will mean nothing if we are all dead from lack of food and tearing each other apart! Let's face the fact that everyone in here is planning on doing what they want anyways, so why don't we just vote on Admiral Kel's purposal now? To that end, I vote yes."

Zaal tossed his hands in the air appearing defeated, "Well if none of you will see reason, I guess I'm voting yes as well."

He felt as though Shala had trapped him into a small box without thinking about the long term ramifications of what she came up with. Once the Council had discovered what they were up to, all talk of settling on a planet in their space would disappear followed up by sanctions to the fleet. His absolute worse fear would be if the flotila could no longer receive fuel from systems in Citadel territory. While it was technically already illegal, many planets independently gave them fuel without the Council caring. Stricter regulations would force them to only work in the Terminus Systems who were at war with the Alliance. The fleet would inevitably get caught in the crossfire guaranteeing lives lost. Shala surely knew all of that, her gamble though was that they would capture Rannoch before the Council could become a problem. Han wasn't sure how comfortable he was making that kind of bet, unfortunately, as Daro came next she would give the deciding vote.

Daro glanced between them before grabbing a bag she had left by her chair, "If we were in such a need for a plan I might consider voting yes. However, my plan would get us to the homeworld and have a working Geth labor force by the end of the week. I don't want anything getting in the way of that."

Shala's frustration only grew in her voice, "For Keelah's sake Daro, you don't even know where the Hubs are located. How are we supposed to tell the people we have a plan when it amounts to running around in the dark chasing shadows?! How do you expect us to justify voting for something like that when the entire flotila is at stake?"

Daro put an audio recording device on the table, "I expect you to vote yes Shala because if you don't, this recording will make its way to every cubicle in the fleet. I found this on the Alarei shortly after Shepard's departure. I imagine he didn't use it at the trial because he feared it would destroy us from within."

His gut twisted when he heard a younger version of Rael'Zorah start to speak, "I wish that were true.. Take him." Kal started to scream and cry as the other scientists lifted him off the ground and threw him against the table hard, "Rael'Zorah with entry 1054, The latest iteration of PerNim went poorly. It only kept the subject ill for a week instead of the desired month to build his immune system. We lowered core temperature of the subject, to a near lethal level, but no beneficial immune system reactions occurred. So we'll not try that again on Kal. Instead we'll give him a small dose of the Human flu." Kal's cries cut him off for a second, "Keelah I hope this works to Han's specifications. The boy can't take much more of this."

Nia spoke first, "Osik, you used PerNim on a child? It's lucky that didn't kill him!"

Daro just had to add, "He used it many, many times if you consider it was entry 1054. On the bright side, we've seen the results for ourselves on the extranet. It was ultimately a success for Kal. Although, I don't know if the people will see it that way when comparisons to what Golo vas Nedas was doing can be made."

That last part was clearly designed to get a response from him and it almost worked. Comparing him to that butcherer was like saying Cerberus and the Alliance were the same. Golo did what he did solely for the credits, he had bigger aspirations when he conducted experiments. He wanted his son to have a life where the suit wasn't a necessary element to his every day existence. So he could have such simple experiences as taking a shower without medication or, kissing a lover whenever he wanted instead of finding a clean room to do it first. And it had been a success, from the outside looking in, Kal got to live with all of the advantages no other Quarian had for three hundred years. Hearing the young screams of his son made him question the true cost of what he had done though.

The screams themselves weren't anything new, he had heard them time and time again throughout Kal's childhood. What was new was his perspective on them all these years later. Han had originally envisioned Kal bringing the Quarian species into a new era of genetic evolution. If Kal's children inherited any of the immune system enhancements, they could've spread them throughout the population, all he needed was proof of concept. Kal hadn't been able to see that all it took was to have one child naturally, then he couldn't have cared less who his son chose as a romantic partner. Wasn't that kind of sacrifice worth it to get Quarians out of these suits for good? That wasn't what happened though. Instead, he lost a wife who he had loved with all his heart and a son who was working day and night to save the galaxy. Were the experiments worth that?

Han was going to have to answer that question later, right now he had to figure out how he was going to respond. This wasn't the first time someone had attempted to blackmail him in Quarian politics but, it was the first time he had seen it done so effectively. Sure, this was a thirty year old tape but those screams were compelling even for him. Even if most Quarians approved of the way he was running the military, there was no way they would stand for torturing a child. If he was going to stay in command of the military, which he needed to be in the middle of a war, he was going to have to vote for Daro's plan. She had to wait months for this particular moment to blackmail him so, he had no doubt she came prepared to pressure everyone else into this pointless scheme.

Zaal scoffed crossing his arms over his chest, "So you have another vote because Gerrel is too proud to give up his position, that still leaves us three to vote for Nia's plan."

Daro had a playful mood when she turned to him, "That would be true but, just before the Alarei incident Rael came to you for help in taking Han down...this is what you had to say to that idea."

Another recording started to play, "I can't do that Rael. What he did here with his son is terrible and he will pay for it. Unfortunately, I can't agree to stop him now when I think he's doing the right thing. Working with the Geth is dangerous, and when we're already incredibly vulnerable I can't condone taking more risks."

Daro finished with a shrug, "Imagine what would have happened if you did go with Rael to stop Admiral Gerrel from his latest scientific experiment? I'm sure the people won't blame you for all of those needless deaths..."

Nia put her hands on the table leaning towards her aggressively, "What stops us from telling the public your blackmailing us for your own game?"

Her sense of enthusiasm for the truth was refreshing for Han but, it was misplaced for what Quarian politics had turned out to be the last two hundred years. Other than Tali'Zorah's trial, the Admiralty Board presented a public face of unity and friendship, in reality it was far from the truth. Since the beginning each Admiral felt as though they alone had the answer to the Geth problem if only the others would listen to them. As a result, the board really just became a game to get on top in order to dictate policy to the others. Han had been used to being in that position for nearly four decades because of the armies love for him. Now though, it would appear as though Daro'Xen was going to take that position by force. Nia was about to learn honesty got you nowhere in Quarian politics fast. He was curious though as to what kind of dirt Daro had been able to dig up on a Quarian family blanket designer though.

Daro nodded pretending to consider it, "Well yes you could but, it doesn't change the basic facts does it? Or the fact that you made a family blanket for an exile on Shala's orders."

Han's head whipped around having a feeling he knew exactly what she meant, "Shala, what is she talking about?"

Shala was getting tense while also determined to stand tall, "I..I don't know."

Daro wagged a finger at her, "Tsk, tsk, tsk..come on now Shala you should've known I would have the evidence to back up my claims," Her hands once again went to dig around in the bag, "One of my new friends was able to pull some strings and get this out of the Alliance's storage bay."

His heart stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a red blanket with Kal's white swirly designs integrated with Human military designations. Shala had gone behind his back and had legitimated his son's marriage with another man in Quarian law. In general, gay people weren't his concern, until his scientific work was wasted because of it. The rest of the population saw it as an obstacle to genetic diversity since they were so fragile on the flotila. At best, Shala's move would be seen as favoritism for her own family, at worst it was an endorsement of the entire practice as a whole. Either way, the people would turn on her, causing them to lose yet another Admiral. It was hard to feel anything other than shock, why would Shala make such a big move that exposed her so easily to blackmail.

Shala's hand was shaking as she sat down, "If anything happens to that blanket...."

Daro waved a hand nonchalantly, "I have no care as to what becomes of your family. It will be returned when this is over. Who's left standing won't matter when we don't need Admirals anymore."

Zaal rubbed his faceplate just starting to understand what was happening, "So who is this friend of yours...?"

Daro moved to tap her omni tool, "Before I do this, I need you to know that everything I do is in the service of reclaiming the homeworld. Something all of you should support." Another second later she pressed the glowing device, "Beviin it's time to show our guest in."

Han thought Shala's move was going to be the most shocking news of the day, he was wrong. He wanted someone to smack him to make sure he wasn't having a nightmare as he watched Miranda Lawson wander into the room. Daro had the audacity to seek help from the terrorist that destroyed the Shellen, which was the primary reason they were in this mess in the first place. Not only that, Daro then had the nerve to allow Lawson back on to the fleet. This would've been the perfect piece of leverage if she didn't have something on all of them. He was going to remember this moment for when he took his position back as top Admiral.

He kept his fury just under the surface, "Would you like to explain why you brought a terrorist onto this ship Admiral Xen...?"

Miranda spoke for her, "Because I'm the Shadow Broker now, and in my hand is a list of coordinates for every Geth Processing Hub in the Veil. And it can be yours right now, for a price."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you think! The good and the bad. As for what's next? ME3 is obviously next chronologically but, I'm debating whether or not to do that first or my Hannah Shepard prequel. Long time readers know it's a relevant story going forward.. Let me know which you would want to see first in the comments! (both are happening, just a question of when.)


End file.
